PepsiCo: Smart Spot for Healthier Foods is Smart Marketing

My husband and I radically changed our diets a few years ago. We had finally reached that age when calories, fat, salt, and sugar had to be carefully watched. The old boxed snacks and prepared foods were replaced with healthier choices, and nothing was purchased without reading the nutritional labels.

A while ago, I noticed a bright green symbol on some of our favorite healthy foods. The symbol had a large check mark on it, and the words "Smart Choices Made Easy." It reminded me of the American Heart Association check mark that promoted heart healthy foods. Naturally, I rather assumed this was the same kind of program and began reaching for those foods marked with the Smart Spot. After all, they clearly were healthy choices. Foods bearing that Smart Spot symbol were low in calories, low in fat, and low in sugar, just the sort of food we should all be eating.

But, I soon discovered that not all healthy foods carried the Smart Spot label. Quaker Breakfast bars were identified as a "smart choice," but not Kellogg's Nutri-grain bars. Quaker's rice crisps were also a "smart choice" but not GeniSoy's soy chips, which is actually a healthier product. Even diet Pepsi had the logo, but not diet Coke. As my kids used to say, "What's up with that?"

As it turned out, the Smart Spot program is just for products made by the Pepsi Company. Since they make over 250 healthy products that qualify for the Smart Spot seal, the PepsiCo lineup of Smart Spot foods really jumps out at you at the grocery store. And, when faced with the choice of buying a product that's clearly labeled "Smart Choice" or not, who wouldn't feel a twinge of guilt by grabbing the one that isn't the "smarter choice?"

It really is a brilliant marketing campaign on behalf of PepsiCo. In 2006, over 40% of their revenues came from those products that are Smart Spot eligible, products such as Quaker Oats, Life cereal, Tropicana Orange juice, Aquafina water, and more. These revenues clearly show that American consumers are interested in healthier eating.