This past week, PepsiCo, the parent conglomerate of Lays, announced it was cutting its prices on salty snacks by 15 percent. It’s obviously a move to boost flagging sales. But there are many reasons folks are buying fewer ultraprocessed non-essentials…
Salty, fatty, sugary snacks and beverages have been tagged as the worst offenders in the global obesity crisis. And they’re also being crucified by nutritionists and the medical world as contributors to the heart, diabetes, and immune system disease crises…
What are they doing?
But… If you’re Pepsi, and you’re used to making billions from your snacks and bevs businesses, you’re on the verge of panic over the way the market has slumped over the past year. Drastic times call for drastic action.
Pepsi has taken a series of steps lately that those of us who watch the junk food sphere thought we’d never see in our lifetimes. Which doesn’t mean we aren’t happy to seem them!
Pepsi has taken a lead in reformulating its products to make them healthier. Less fat, less salt and less sugar. Particularly less fat, and healthier, less-saturated fats.
Expanding horizons
The company is also expanding its horizons into the newly opened protein-boosted foods territory. Their initial forays into that heretofore unknown country have been fronted by protein-infused ‘functional’ beverages.
I expect they’ll start rolling out high-protein, ‘healthier’, crunchy snacks in a few months, once they get more comfortable with the protein concept…
My take
The moves Pepsi is making will almost certainly be echoed by other smack and fizzy bev purveyors. It’s just a matter of time. And if history is any kind of guide, Pepsi’s competition will be racing to catch up. We’ve got a big news-year ahead of us in the snacks sector!
My questions to you:
Will you buy – and consume – more salty, fatty, or sweet snacks as a result of the price cut?
Are the proven health risks important enough to you that the price cut won’t matter?
Do you believe that the steps Pepsi has taken to make its products more wholesome are sufficient to address the problem?
What would it take for Pepsi – and the other snack and bev vendors – to get back in your good books as a potential customer?
Muse on that…
~ Maggie J.