Cereal maker learns some prefer old dyes to new Trix
The latest development in the Trix cereal saga conclusively proves at least one thing: Consumers remain deeply divided on the definition, and the importance, of eating healthfully.
Cereal maker General Mills announced last week that it would reintroduce a discontinued version of the 63-year-old cereal, complete with the neon-bright, artificial colors that it removed in a company-wide makeover less than two years ago.
The change, which replaced chemical dyes with vegetable and fruit juice and turmeric extract, didn’t necessarily hurt Trix sales. In fact, the company’s technology director, Erika Smith, told an industry conference in July 2016 that the new Trix had “exceeded expectations.”
Instead, the company — which has been besieged by complaints by some customers — found that current trends toward more “natural” products are far from universal.
“We made this decision because our fans were split,” said Mike Siemienas, a General Mills spokesman. “Some really liked it, and some really wanted the old Trix back.”
That finding contradicts the now-dominant narrative about what modern consumers want from their food. According to the market research firm Nielsen, 61 percent of global consumers, and 50 percent of North Americans, are avoiding artificial colors, mostly because of health concerns.
In response, more than a dozen major packaged-food companies announced plans to root out artificial colors, flavors and preservatives in everything from banana peppers to Baby Ruths.
But in the process, many are discovering that the market for their products is actually quite fragmented, and that different groups of consumers are looking for different — even opposite — qualities in the same foods, said David Portalatin, a food-industry analyst at the research firm NPD.
“The days of the one-size-fitsall blockbuster brand are probably over,” Portalatin said.
Consumers revolted in 2014 when Coca-Cola replaced the crystalline fructose in Vitaminwater with stevia, a plant-based sweetener. Despite stevia’s “natural” and no-calorie credentials, many complained that it lacked the sweetness of sugar.
For Trix, the experience was much the same. The company released its reformulated version of the cereal in January 2016, after testing 69 natural replacements for the bright yellow, orange, purple, red, blue and green dyes found in the original product.
Although the flavor and nutritional content of the new Trix were similar, the iconic red was duller, and because the company’s scientists couldn’t find a good replacement for blue and green, it had to get rid of them.
On social media, the company faced an immediate onslaught of criticism.
General Mills will soon begin shelving its newer, naturally colored cereal alongside the older,