Mayo and Nutella: Spoon Your Way to Health!
Have you guys seen the new ads for Hellman’s mayo and Nutella? The ads position the products as natural and healthy via word trickery and warm, pleasing imagery.
Hellman’s latest campaign is all about how “real” their mayo is, with its real eggs, real vinegar, and real oil (no mention of the real cholesterol and fat).
The Nutella ads, aimed at children, talk about how Nutella can be part of a healthy breakfast. Just spread it on your favorite healthy treat! Kinda like butter!
The ad highlights all of the delicious hazelnuts and skim milk that are present in Nutella. It fails to mention that the #1 ingredient is sugar and that a single serving (2 tbsp.) contains 11g of fat.
I’m surprised they are running this ad in the lawsuit happy U.S. considering the brand was criticized for making similar claims in the UK in 2007.
A few years ago 7UP got into some trouble because they reformulated the beverage and started describing themselves as “100% natural” despite containing high fructose corn syrup. They eventually had to drop the claim, since, you know, it was false.
I know that, technically, Hellman’s and Ferrero are just presenting misleading facts and allowing the consumer to jump to their own conclusions (and that this is nothing new in advertising) but it takes balls to market mayonnaise and chocolate spread (sorry, hazelnut spread) as ingredients belonging in a healthy diet.
The Hellman’s ads don’t bother me as much because the natural angle is slightly different than the healthy one (though clearly it’s implied that real=healthy=eat a tub of mayo) and they point you to their site where you can find several healthy recipes. And well, I just really love mayo. But the Nutella ads are a bit much, especially since they are aimed at children who are going to see those ads and say, c’mon Dad, gimme more, it’s healthy!
It would be so refreshing if a brand like these came out and said, listen, our stuff is the shit, it tastes good and makes other stuff tastes good too. But that awesomeness comes at a price so learn how to control yourself and not get type-2 diabetes. Gravy: Perfect for cheat day!
