Where
the subject may be perishable
but the insight isn't.
Jim Prevor's Perishable Pundit, August 29, 2006
We’ve had a lot of discussion in the Pundit about
the issue of cartoon characters and produce. We did an
article, got some additional
information and then some
feedback.
Well our
Pundit Store Tour gave us the chance to buy some green seedless
grapes packed under the Disney Garden label.
As with most things in life, a lot of the success or failure of these
initiatives will be in the execution, and the Pundit thought the design
of this bag was simply terrific.
First
and most crucially, the illustration was of Mickey and Minnie, not some
secondary characters, and they were put on a picnic blanket surrounded
by grapes for the picnic.
Because these characters lack the direct affiliation with produce that,
say, Popeye or Bugs Bunny may have, a crucial question was to what
degree the owners of the rights to these characters would allow actual
engagement with produce. This is very encouraging.
There is a quick nutrition factoid placed on Mickey’s glove giving the
thumbs up sign and indicating that grapes are “High in Vitamin C and
only 90 calories”. Nice quick info, although the 90 calories is
unclear as to whether this is per serving or for the whole bag.
Also on the front of the bag is a link to Disney’s Health Kid’s web
site. The web site is not
finished yet, but there is a food pyramid game with Mickey Mouse that my
4-year-old would play for awhile.
The 5-a-Day-the-Color-Way logo closes out the front.
On the back, in addition to the Nutrition Facts pane
l, there are a
couple little jokes for kids: Example: Q: What do you call a purple
gorilla? A: A grape Ape.
There are also some fun facts, like: The average person eats about 8
pounds of grapes a year.
Also some serious information: Grapes are high in vitamin C, which
helps build strong bones and teeth and heals cuts and scratches.
And there’s a specific and valuable tie in between caloric intake
and outgo: One serving of grapes = energy to play frisbee for 50
minutes. You should engage in physical activity for at least 60 minutes
every day.
There is another “Check it out” feature with Mickey and the food
pyramid and, then, another reminder to go to the Disney Healthy Kids web
site, plus a mention of the
Imagination Farms website and a
separate
link to a second Imagination Farms site where you can put in
a clue (although I could find no place on the site that requires a
clue). There is a place you can enter a code to win, but you don’t seem
to win anything without the code. Besides, three separate web addresses
on one bag is probably too many.
But it is a very strong effort. The grapes I happened to get, though
sweet and tasty, were plucked with difficulty out of a badly battered
display, making me think that the Disney name, as well as the grapes,
would be better protected with a clamshell.