No, no, we’re talking about snack food packaging . . . and shame on you

It’s hard to be sure whether this is good or bad news for the national health and waistline, but sweet snack items in those trendy 100-calorie packets — a product category that for all practical purposes didn’t even exist in 2003 — now take in more than $400 million a year.

If the purchasers of these items are mostly people who otherwise would have consumed more than 100 calories worth of the treats — primarily baked goods — from larger packages, then bravo for the 100-calorie concept. If, however, the buyers are mostly people who previously would have passed up the treats but now think instead, “Hey, it’s just a lousy hundred calories,” then boo, hiss.

This financial factoid was included in an Associated Press article reporting on the birth of a 100-calorie version of the Twinkie, which the Hostess company is launching with the expected amount of fanfare. According to the article, the Hostess folks experienced some uncertainty as to how to offer a smaller version of the basic, 150-calorie Twinkie.

They certainly didn’t want to just shrink the familiar oblong-shaped Twinkie, they said — although it’s unclear why not, since a 100-cal Twinkie would, math tells us, be 2/3 the size of the standard issue 150-cal original, hardly a downsizing so radical as to send the buyer lurching off, empty-handed with shock and dismay.

Then again, full-size Twinkies came in packs of two, which means the 100-calorie limit would require a Twinkie product just one-third the size of the classic package, so a certain amount of emotional trauma might possibly ensue. How to minimize any negative buyer reaction evidently became topic one in the halls of Hostess. What to do, what to do?

Now that we’ve got you on the edge of your seat

The solution arrived at by the Hostess designers was a packet of three small, round Twinkies, on the marketing theory that consumers prefer having multiple bites over the one larger item, so that instead of one lone, depressing mini-Twinkie, you get a trio of teeny-weeny Twinkies, which sounds like a line out of Dr. Seuss.

The actual name of the 100-calorie package is Twinkie Bites, and it was officially introduced the day before the presidential election, despite that being probably the worst possible date for getting media coverage of a new snack serving.

Twinkie Bites will join the Hostess stable of 100-calorie items, which includes coffee cakes, muffins, cupcakes (the chocolate is the genre’s top seller), and more, adding up to over 15 million 100-calorie Hostess snack packs per year. That’s a total of 1.5 billion calories, all in the name of consuming fewer calories.

It’s certainly hard to argue with the company’s success in marketing 100-cal snack packages, but even so, there is something about the very notion of a “healthy-sized” portion of Twinkies that strikes one as ludicrous. It evidently struck some of those who read the AP item online that way, given such comment responses as “they look small but still have sugar and fat” and “artificial ingredients, hydrogenated oils and preservatives are always garbage . . . no matter how few calories they shrink it down to.”

Comedian Bill Maher took note of Twinkie Bites on his HBO show, and observed tartly, “You want a 100-calorie Twinkie, just cut one Twinkie in half. Then throw both halves in the toilet.” And one online commenter took it even further: “Throw away the Twinkie. Eat the wrapper. Fewer calories and better nutrition.”

Good luck, Hostess.

(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 and is filed under Diet humor and wit, Nutrition, Snacks. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.