Products I don't understand.
Mar. 28th, 2009 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spookyeviloneKraft Multigrain Macaroni and Cheese. "It's Healthier!" exclaims the package, in cheerful fonts. Are they saying that the previous incarnations of Mac and Cheese were not healthy? Or that higher sodium in the cheese sauce mix is healthier than the lower sodium regular cheese sauce mix? Am I being rudely disabused of all their previous advertising tolling the healthfulness of 8 oz of real milk per box, or the fact that they use real cheddar cheese instead of the imaginary kind?
Why do I never see advertising for Kraft that's based on real-life data? "Kraft - Remember when you were a picky eater as a child? We do." or "Kraft - choose it cuz you're poor and it's FORTIFIED!" or "Kraft Dinner - it's not cooking, really!" Are there actually people in the world who choose Kraft Dinner because they think it's healthy? Or even a healthier choice in the boxed dinner category? Do people ever read the box and see that it's meant to be served as a side dish, in 1/4c portions? Has it ever, in the history of the product, been served in this manner?
Things to ponder as I make lunch. It was chosen because my head hurts, which makes chewing difficult, and lo, I am out of soup. It also reminds me of when I was a child - my mother would make this horrid concoction with macaroni and cheese and a can of cream of mushroom soup. If she was feeling particularly festive, there'd be matchstick potatoes or french fried onion bits on top. Since I loathe anything resembling the stereotypical "Minnesota Hotdish", I would pitch fits unless I was allowed to take my portion before the goop was added. My mother made mac and cheese, but she always seemed to hate it. It wasn't until I was older that I realized she hated what it represented. At the time, we were on welfare and it was one of the things food stamps paid for. My mom was a 50's housewife. I don't think the meaning of dinner ever really changed for her. Dinner was a meal you cooked, and it had meat and vegetables and starch and bread. Having dinner come out of a box was cheating.
It's still cheating. It's also something I can eat today, so I'm going to have it in spite of the mental image of my mother curling her lip at it.
Or maybe because of that.
Why do I never see advertising for Kraft that's based on real-life data? "Kraft - Remember when you were a picky eater as a child? We do." or "Kraft - choose it cuz you're poor and it's FORTIFIED!" or "Kraft Dinner - it's not cooking, really!" Are there actually people in the world who choose Kraft Dinner because they think it's healthy? Or even a healthier choice in the boxed dinner category? Do people ever read the box and see that it's meant to be served as a side dish, in 1/4c portions? Has it ever, in the history of the product, been served in this manner?
Things to ponder as I make lunch. It was chosen because my head hurts, which makes chewing difficult, and lo, I am out of soup. It also reminds me of when I was a child - my mother would make this horrid concoction with macaroni and cheese and a can of cream of mushroom soup. If she was feeling particularly festive, there'd be matchstick potatoes or french fried onion bits on top. Since I loathe anything resembling the stereotypical "Minnesota Hotdish", I would pitch fits unless I was allowed to take my portion before the goop was added. My mother made mac and cheese, but she always seemed to hate it. It wasn't until I was older that I realized she hated what it represented. At the time, we were on welfare and it was one of the things food stamps paid for. My mom was a 50's housewife. I don't think the meaning of dinner ever really changed for her. Dinner was a meal you cooked, and it had meat and vegetables and starch and bread. Having dinner come out of a box was cheating.
It's still cheating. It's also something I can eat today, so I'm going to have it in spite of the mental image of my mother curling her lip at it.
Or maybe because of that.