I’ll admit, I don’t shop at Whole Foods often. I generally don’t care where my food comes from or how it was made, unless of course there is controversy over the topic all over media. To me, Whole Foods is pretty much just like any other grocery store. That means Wal-Mart, Safeway, Save-on-foods, among others. Granted, the nearest Whole Foods is a 45 minute drive away which is also fairly off-putting.
While I don’t shop at Whole Foods, however, that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about their food or values. In fact, I admire them for their aim at responsibly produced or grown products. Co-CEO, John Mackey’s catchphrase is along the lines of “it’s OK to make money and be thoughtful at the same time.” Their new marketing campaign certainly attempts to emphasize the company’s shared values.
An article in USA Today, describes Whole Foods’ new national advertising campaign. With the slogan “Values matter,” the new ad further pushes the message, saying, “We want people, and animals, and the places our food comes from to be treated fairly.” The reason for the new ad is the increasing competition from other grocery stores and decreased growth. In this market of increased rivalry, Whole Foods has perhaps done well in their emphasizing that they are different than the others. Sure, Wal-Mart sells everything for cheap and there are more Safeway locations than Whole Foods locations (here, anyways), but in a culture that is continuously growing towards food consciousness, this ad campaign emphasizing their point of difference may have been a very good move from Whole Foods.