McVitie’s Digestive Biscuits and Parle Digestive Marie recently came out with ads exposing their competitors and attempting to strongly differentiate themselves amongst the ever-growing list of biscuit options now available to the consumers.
McVitie’s Digestive – What’s inside your biscuit?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHGHUKSNGQU]
McVitie’s Digestive biscuit ad claims that it is the only biscuit in the market that is made up of whole wheat as compared to others that contain refined flour (maida), hence positioning itself as the healthier option even among digestive biscuits which consumers believe are healthier than regular ones. “The commercial elevates the digestive category compared to regular biscuits by honing onto a relevant category truth. The objective is to tell consumers why McVitie’s is better,” said Jayant Kapre, President, United Biscuits.
Parle Digestive – Fat Kum, Fit Zyada
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYJ8TOw0M1Y]
Parle Digestive biscuit ad claims that all other digestive biscuits add a lot of fat to their biscuit to make it taste better, but Parle Digestive has significantly less fat (50%) while still tasting good, making it the healthier option for the consumer.
Criticizing and exposing competitor brands seems to be the common route chosen by the brands. Given that the digestive biscuit segment in India is growing fast owing to increased awareness about improved health and wellbeing amongst consumers as well as the simultaneously increasing affordability, it is getting more and more difficult to differentiate oneself in this “better-for-you” foods segment. So while one claims to be refined flour-free and another with 50% less fat, not only are these biscuits positioned on the digestive health platform, but also trying to occupying significant space in the weight management/ weight loss platforms. So while they are trying to differentiate from one another basis the ingredient, the final health benefit(s) they are offering is the same.
So are they really being successful in this ‘mine healthier than yours’ strategy ? I don’t think so. What do you think? Do share your thoughts.
- Roshni Jhaveri
A friend of mine who is in the packaged food industry revealed to me that all these health and wellness products are a total sham. They are just perceived to be healthier but are not as different as the cheaper and less healthy options.
Are there authorities in place to certify that a product meets a minimum standard to call themselves healthy – much like with organics? If not, why hasn’t something thought about creating standards and adhering to them? Wouldn’t it be false advertising – much like with bottled water?
i think the smart consumers will understand that in reality digestive buiscuits contain maida, unhealthy fats, sugar and a little more fibre than regular buiscuits. If one checks out the label , one can see that the amount of calories per 100 gms of digestive buiscuits are not significantly less than in glucose buiscuits…same is true for diet namkeens and snacks! better to avoid in case one is really health conscious!
Hi Pooja,
Nice to see you visit the blog. Do keep reading our posts and commenting.
Regards,
Zenobia