At least that's what a chocolate company suggests to parents as the strategy to sell indulgences as healthy options. The strategy has just expanded from physical health claims to the psychological realm.
Consumers are already bombarded with pitches about "healthy beginnings" with sweetened mini-wheat cereal and "nutritious" chocolate decadent frozen yogurt fortified with protein and probiotics. There's also whole-wheat chips to support a "healthy heart" and juice blended with omega-3/DHA to "nourish your brain."
Now, the maker of Kinder chocolate is appealing to a universal parental desire to develop healthy relationships with their children. The new website for Canadian parents, launched by Ferrero Canada, introduces milk chocolate bars sized for children, including "mini-treats" for young children that are one-quarter the size of regular chocolate bars.
"Treats of all kinds--from a special shared experience to a simple chocolate bar--can be used to help build positive parent-child relationships," according to the new Treat Responsibly campaign developed by Kinder with the backing of a Canadian child development expert and a dietitian.
Treats such as Kinder bars can "show a child that their parent is concerned about making them happy, and willing to do things that make them happy." Treats also "set a positive mood to make a child more receptive to what a parent has to say."
The campaign is part of a bigger initiative that encourages parents to engage in active play with their children and incorporates treats in "a thought-out and responsible manner." Its overall campaign question is, "Have you played today?"
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff closely monitors marketing campaigns of food companies, and he says the Kinder campaign stands out.
"The Kinder one really is the first time I've seen somebody go at this for a psychology perspective," said the medical director of the Ottawa-based Bariatric Medical Institute, which provides treatment for obesity.
"That's the first, 'You should do this because it's good for your child's development,' perspective. Usually, it is more along with lines of probiotics and inclusive nutrients that will somehow make this unhealthy food magically healthy for you. This was a new twist on that."
Kinder's new pitch comes as Health Canada is struggling to figure out what to do with the slew of new foods with probiotics or fortified with minerals and vitamins on the market.
Some health claims can be made without approval, provided they are truthful and not misleading. But other claims are only allowed once a regulatory amendment specifying the conditions for their use has been made.
Meanwhile, Freedhoff said consumers are inundated with what he calls "badvertising." His list includes an ad for grape juice boasting that it contains twice the "antioxidant power" of orange juice that helps "protect your immune system" and an ad for Nutella explaining the chocolate spread is a part of a "nutritious breakfast."
Now, Kinder is appealing to parents on a psychological level, said Freedhoff.
Marketing professor Brian Wansink, of Cornell University, said he likes the smaller portions in this new product line--12.5-gram Mini Treats for young children and 21-gram Singles for older children as opposed to the standard chocolate bar of 42 grams, but finds the marketing pitch a little odd.
"You don't want to think you're bribing your child to love you or listen to you," he said.
