Bad news, folks: There’s a new food-like substance on the market and it’s tasty.
My interest in products is often matched by my interest in the marketing thinking behind the taglines being used (as here, here, here, here, and here), and this bold claim caught my attention.
Well. All right then. Good to know.
Unlike some sub-standard snacks
which shall remain nameless
because we can’t think of any right now,
RyVita Thins
are not restricted in their suitability.
Nay,
they are suitable for any snacking occasion.
This got me to thinking about my own snacking occasions, as few and as disciplined as they are: to tide me over to the next meal, to ruin said meal, to get me through the evening after a meal, or to enliven a long day in the car, completely unrelated to meals. When, further, I consider the snacks I’m partial to, I see none that are not eminently suitable for any/all of these occasions.
Cheetos Crunchy? Check.
Cookies, crunchy or chewy? Check.
Chocolate, in all its forms? Check.
Peanuts, enrobed in candy, chocolate, or salt? Check.
Guacamole-from-scratch and chips? Check. Well, maybe not in the car.
Maybe I’m not getting it. Maybe my snacking occasions are unnaturally limited in their scope, although the evidence would be against that.
I’m thinking this whole “restricted-versus-universal suitability for snacking occasions” thing will have to remain one of life’s little mysteries, known only to God and marketers, and maybe not to God. I’ll add that to why the French decided to go with grignotage for “snacking.” I mean, mes amis: Come on. We already had a perfectly suitable word for “snacking”. In all its occasions.
I realized that the mom of a client was in need of Focused Listening when she told me she had to keep snacks in the car to munch on more or less constantly to keep herself awake. While she drove, not as a passenger. I had long suspected narcolepsy was on the range of ear-related unwanted behaviors. She decided to take the right-eared music therapy advice she was passing on to her son and was astonished at the results. She no longer needed snacks to keep her awake, even when she was driving for long distances. Bad news for the makers of the yummy list you offer! As several members of her family have the same issue with driving, an even larger bite has been taken out of the snack-makers’ market. This revelation leads me to wonder how many lives are being saved daily, on the road, by the snacks industry. la
Laurna – Wow. And great! In a related (?) vein, I know people who can’t listen to audiobooks in the car for reasons of drowsiness. Re the efficacy of snacking, maybe it just helps them to have something to do other than staring at the road.
Personal taste of course but I can’t think of a snacking occasion at which I couldn’t find MUCH better option than RyVita.
Mary – I’m 100% with you when it comes to the parent snack (flavour and texture) but these are paper-thin and, well, eminently snackable.
Ryvita, as I recall the rare times when I had some, is a tasteless tooth breaker. With as subtle a flavour as rice cakes which would be my “parent snack” (with butter).
Barbara – For sure. It’s amazing that the offspring should so far exceed the parent!
I’ve never tried Ryvita. Does nobody like chocolate? Or peanuts? Or Dad’s cookies?
Tom
Tom – 🙂 I like chocolate. And peanuts. Dad’s cookies are not my favourite.