When I was growing up, individually packed snacks, whether they were chips, cookies or pudding, were all the rage to have in your lunch box. Now that I’m unfortunately older, these things don’t necessarily frequent my diet. Likewise, I’m a bit removed from the latest trends and hits in elementary school cafeterias and I’m trying to be too old for Jell-o shots. Regardless, when I saw that Kraft will be launching a new campaign to make Jell-o more relevant to today’s food trends, I was a bit surprised that pudding cups and Jell-o jigglers had ever gone out of style (http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/jell-o-jigglers-53920.aspx).
As I was reading this article, the Jell-o jingle “J-E-L-L-O… It’s Alive!” immediately played in my head. I realized that Jell-o and pudding brings back a lot of childhood memories for me. While the new child character in Jell-o’s most recent commercial is very cute, as a shopper marketer, I’m not sure that taking an adult spin on their advertising campaign is the best route. If adults like myself are reminded of the memories that these snacks bring up and kids’ love for them, I think Jell-o and pudding cups will begin making their way back into kids’ lunchboxes. Highlighting them as a relief after a long day of work seems like a bit of a disconnect to me.
In closing, whenever one Billy Madison clip is good, two can be great. Enjoy.
