IN THE KINGDOM OF THE BLAND ...

 

The launch of Kellogg's new cereal Krave has set me thinking. It looks delicious to me - mmm chocolate and hazelnut. But I was wondering whether people want to eat something so scrummy when they are blurry-eyed in the morning. Perhaps it's a cereal to be eaten during the day as a snack? Or back from the pub?  

I was looking at some figures for breakfast cereals and the massive players are the bland ones - the ones that don't engage the 'this-is-yummy' bits of the brain but let the eater come to in their own time. Corn Flakes, the Kellogg's variety, has about 11% share and Weetabix has about 9%. Porridge is doing pretty well, too.  

It seems that it is easy to add on, to make something more delicious, more complicated, and much more difficult to pare down and to reduce. And yet it is the plainer, simpler products that have stood the test of time. Perhaps because of versatility? Or maybe because there's only so much eating time in the day to devote to massively delicious tastes?  Plain crisps sell more than flavoured; plain biscuits more than the chocolate sandwiched with …  

Market research militates against the bland, too. Tasting in groups favours the stronger, sweeter, saltier product variations, because respondents have such a short time to try and the product that makes the most impact tends to be the one that is preferred. Tasting drinks is a case in point. We are able to quaff great quantities of blander drinks, with the stronger and more indulgent flavours reserved for the rarer occasion. So cup of tea anyone? Or would you prefer a hot chocolate with marshmallows and swirls of cream?  

Judith

Comments

[Will]

It's been an interesting few months into the area of indulgent/indulgence research.

Articles like into obesity (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/13/obesity-salt-fat-sugar-kessler) and books along the same lines (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0091902479/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=04HRCZHFXJB9NQZWP0CD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294) tell an interesting story.

The ever-increasing amount of saturated fat into even seemingly 'normal' servings (not just portion size) does colour things. I do wonder whether breakfast, for a lot of people, is a form of escape from such high powered tastes. It's an interesting thought.

Good post - thanks for this.