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Loading...The Rebranding of 6 Popular Food Items
- Mel, selected from DivineCaroline
- October 5, 2010
- 1:01 pm
- 414 comments
By Allison Ford, DivineCAroline
Here’s a food riddle: When is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) not high-fructose corn syrup? When it’s “corn sugar.” Yes, get ready to start seeing this new, innocent-sounding moniker pop up in commercials and on labels. Because of the thrashing HFCS has taken in the court of public opinion in the past few years, its makers have decided to help it shed its old battered skin and emerge as a sleeker, more natural-sounding product.
Rebranding happens all the time in the corporate world. Philip Morris became Altria. The SciFi Channel became SyFy, GMAC became Ally Bank, Puff Daddy became Diddy, and Prince became The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. When a name—for one reason or another—just isn’t working, the strategy is to regroup and debut as something else.
You may think of foods as having fixed and immutable names, but the truth is that food products can be rebranded just as easily as any other corporation, product, or person. The latest example is the attempt by the Corn Refiners’ Association to shed the negative image of HFCS by calling it something sweet and tempting, like “corn sugar.” Some rebrandings are successful and some aren’t, but some of our most commonplace foods didn’t always go by the name they have now.
Aspartame, aka AminoSweet
Discovered in 1965, aspartame was among the first major artificial sweeteners to hit the U.S. food market, and because of its potency and lack of calories, manufacturers put it in everything. But due to competition from newer sweeteners and persistent rumors that the chemical is linked to cancerous tumors, sales of aspartame have lagged in recent years. The FDA has consistently maintained that aspartame is safe, but in early 2010, Ajinomoto (one company that manufactures the compound) decided to rename it AminoSweet. The new name is meant to make the product sound more natural and to evoke the two amino acids that account for its sweetness.
Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed Oil, aka Canola Oil
There’s no such thing as a canola. Actually, the proper spelling is “Canola” with a capital C, because Canola isn’t even a plant—it’s the proper name of the product.
Canola oil comes from the rapeseed plant. Rapeseed oil was used in many parts of the world for cooking and industrial purposes, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that it became a staple in American kitchens, after Canadian scientists genetically engineered a strain of rapeseed plant that yielded a product significantly less bitter than regular rapeseed oil. It also contained less erucic acid, which had been associated with heart problems. The tasteless, odorless oil was perfect for cooking and baking, but manufacturers decided that “low erucic acid rapeseed oil” was not likely to motivate consumers to buy. They called the new oil Canola oil, after the name given to the experimental seed by the Canadian government: Can.-O.-L.A., which stood for Canadian, oilseed, low-acid. Thanks to smart branding, today it’s the third most popular cooking oil in the United States.
Read more: Basics, Diet & Nutrition, Food, aspartame, HFCS, prunes
Mel, selected from DivineCaroline
At DivineCaroline.com, women come together to learn from experts in the fields, of health, sustainability, and culture; to reflect on shared experiences; and to express themselves by writing and publishing stories about anything that matters to them. Here, real women publish like real pros. Together, with our staff writers, they’re discussing all facets of women’s lives from relationships and careers, to travel and healthy living. So come discover, read, learn, laugh and connect at DivineCaroline.com.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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people are talking
Thank You
WOW I thought I was having a flashback from the 60, no the 70, no the opps LOL
Great post and website, thank you!
Nice article, thanks.
thanks Gail and Michelle to help: "True friendship is broad and inclusive. Selfish at-tachment t…
414 comments
+ add your owngreat info ... and omg on "Canola" oil! i use extra virgin olive oil for almost everything. however, i must admit my ignorance on canola oil.
noted with thanks for the posting, learned alot!
so that is what "a canola" is.
canola, bad, yes. toxic. google it.
That's weird!
Interesting article, thanks!
My uncle once ate several bowls of "dried plums" before anyone told him what they were. I've never claimed to have a bright family, but who doesn't know that?
Also, my sister loves kiwifruit. I shall have to ask her if she wants a Chinese Gooseberry.
Great post!
Great article. Though I must say I like baby carrots - surely it's not the same as a chocolate bar!
interesting! thanks!
Interesting, thanks for posting.
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