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06.14.2006
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03.15.2006 "The Death of Soda"
06.16.2005 "Why Selling on Health Benefits Alone May Be a Losing Proposition"
06.02.2005 "What's on the Label?"
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StumbleUponSugar And The Consumer: You Can't Have Your Sugar And Eat It Too
When talking to consumers about health lifestyles, it seems that sooner or later the conversation inevitably circles back to sugar: This has been true for some time, and while notably the low-carb craze inspired a faddish focus on sugar, the effects of Atkins, South Beach and now diets such as "Sugar Busters" in relation to sugar might be said to be a lesser node of a much larger consumer mindset that has been building around the ingredient since the 1970s. This mindset, which is complex, views sugar with a certain amount of blame as "the culprit" for a wide variety of health issues, including diabetes and obesity, while at the same time is acted out as a cultural fixation on "sweet treats" which continues to guarantee sugar and sweetened products a central role in celebrations, rewards and indulgences.
When talking with consumers at all levels of wellness involvement, several key themes have developed around sugar, all of which highlight one trend toward negative associations between sugar and attempts to live healthier lifestyles. As voiced by many consumers:
"Sugar is addictive": Sugar is an addictive product that contributes to "highs and lows" and is hard to break free from.
"Sugar contributes to health problems": Many different ailments and diseases, ranging from tooth decay to obesity, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes are attributed to sugar consumption.
"Sugar is in everything": As taught especially by low-carb diet plans (e.g., Atkins), consumers have learned that a number of products contain not only sugar, but high fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners "to watch."
Hidden Sugar Sparks Emotion
To further examine one of these themes (the notion that "sugar is in everything"), we addressed the issue of "hidden sugar" in our Pulse Report: Sugar and Sweeteners from a Consumer Perspective. We asked respondents if they had ever been surprised to find that a product they bought contained sugar, and if so, how it made them feel about the product. Overall, respondents were considerably emotional on this topic and voiced:
- The feeling of being "duped" or "deceived" by a manufacturer upon the discovery of sugar as an ingredient, and
- The idea that sugar may be used to boost the quality of a normally inferior product
"Yes, I was surprised to find sugar in it and it made me think that it was a lower quality product relying on sugar for its flavor")
While nearly half of all respondents responded "no" or "I wasn't surprised" to this question, the remaining half of respondents voiced concern: Common language across all levels of wellness consumers included "shocked," "upset," "sad," "lied to," "disappointed" when describing the process of finding sugar hidden in a product:
"I usually know what I buy, but if they sneak in sugar it makes me feel angry."
"Yes, most all products contain sugar now days. It made me feel that the product was being sneaky, like it was trying to pull one over on me."
"Heartbroken, that they would so adulterate perfectly good food - and duped, when I thought I was being healthful then found juices were all sugar."
Moving toward the "Core" of the Wellness World, we saw that language about discovering hidden sugar became more skewed toward anger which was in turn aimed at the manufacturer of the product: Both mid-level and core wellness consumers admitted to feeling "lied to," "deceived," "wary," "betrayed," "misled" or "angry" upon discovering hidden sugars in products and were more likely to state that they switch to low/no sugar products upon discovering hidden sugar.
But Sugar is Bliss
While we currently find that 55% of consumers say they are "trying to avoid sugar," and are clearly "emotional" about subjects like hidden sugar, what about the other side of the coin, that is the 45% of consumers who don't avoid sugar? Oddly enough today, while sugar is demonized strongly by one group of consumers at the same time sugar and all things sweetened are a celebrated taste, more so than ever before: This is self-evident in the strength of the market for so-called "indulgence" and luxury sweetened foods, the surging popularity of sucralose (Splenda) and as embodied in language used in cultural artifacts such as recently published dessert cookbook titles, which show usage of terms like "Indulgence, Lover, Gratitude, Decadent, Exotic, Bliss, and Sinfully" as if to underscore the almost decadent place sugar holds in the collective consciousness. For those who say they aren't avoiding sugar, we can glimpse important clues as to how some consumers appear to successfully incorporate sugar into their lives:
"I don't overindulge and a little bit (of sugar) is healthy"
"Because I don't have problems with sugar, and love it!"
"Because life is short, so enjoy"
"Moderation is the key to happiness"
"Because we enjoy our favorite foods and have sugar within reason."
From these simple statements, we can see that for a significant number of consumers a key to enjoying sugar is to eat it "within reason," signifying that moderation is an essential step toward enjoying rather than avoiding or fearing sugar. This mindset and behavior links to the philosophy of two diet plans that have been around for many years, Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, both of which allow sugar, but under the guidelines of their respective plans.
While moderation appears to be a component of health lifestyle trends at play in the aftermath of diet plans like Atkins, it is unclear how the large segment of consumers who currently view sugar negatively will learn to overcome their cravings which tend to lead to over-indulgence, a sense of guilt, and even of anger, such as that voiced at finding "hidden sugars." One insight lies in the fact that just as we have seen consumers go from avoiding fat to seeking out what they call "good fats," so too may new perspectives on diets, such as those that focus on the Glycemic Index, contribute to consumer trends in the selection of what they consider to be "good carbohydrates" and "bad carbohydrates."
Take Away
Sugar and sweetened products have a long cultural tradition of indulgence and reward in American society. Total avoidance of sugar and sweetened products is very difficult for many consumers, and for this large group their mindset currently seems to be to "try" to avoid it. The dichotomy between cultural learnings (which include symbolic early memories like "home baked cookies" and "school bake sales") and current trends in labeling certain foods as contraband, implies that food and beverage marketers should take heed that significant numbers of consumers seek out products with less sugar, and are very mindful of sweeteners as ingredients. At the same time, as with all things American, another large group of consumers, claiming moderation, appear eager to try new, more extreme indulgences.
 Pulse ReportSUGAR AND SWEETENERS FROM A CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE For timely insights on the complex role sugar and sweeteners play in American culture and diet: Pulse Report: Sugar and Sweeteners from a Consumer Perspective. click for more» |
