Changes of eating habits and diet trends contributes to the declining sales of Jell-O products. So, Kraft Foods has decided to shift Jell-O’s “core purpose” and market the products as “food for fun”.
From my experience, people mainly eat Jell-O products after their wisdom teeth are removed or they are sick at home. Generally speaking, one of the last things we would associate with fun is Jell-O. Furthermore, many people nowadays rush about their daily lives and want things the momet they decide they want them. With Jell-O’s gelatin, there is this process of mixing the powder in boiling water and then cold water, then it must firm up in the fridge for a few hours until it is ready for consumption. And, the instant pudding is not as instant as it claims. There are packaged cups of ready to eat Jell-O products at the supermarket, but those are usually just seen on the bedsides of hospital patients or nursing home residents.
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However, Jell-O did successfully work its way through the family-focused dessert trend and the more recent adult-centric diet trend. Now, Jell-O must redefine its purpose to fit current trends or redefine the way people view the product through its doubled spending on marketing. Marketing has the ability to ingrain products into consumers’ minds and make them perceive products in a certain light. With a sufficient amount of advertisements the way people currently think of Jell-O products could change to that “food for fun” image Kraft Foods wants to market it as.
As for right now, it has yet to become its desired image of the fun-filled snack food.