Recently, cereal makers General Mills and Post announced that they had reformulated their flagship brands (Cheerios and Grape Nuts, respectively) to avoid genetically-modified (GMO) ingredients. Cheerios will henceforth state “Not made with genetically modified ingredients.” A box of Grape Nuts sports the “Non-GMO Verified” logo.
Curiously, General Mills and Post did not simply introduce an additional version of Cheerios and Grape Nuts to attract GMO-wary consumers, but killed off the original flagship brands, thus alienating brand-loyal consumers of the popular cereals. These reliable customers, estimated at 75% or more, must now bear several novel and undesirable consequences.
Brand-loyal consumers were not consulted prior to the untimely demise of their favorite cereals, and now must either purchase the reformulated versions, or choose competitors’ brands. Reformulating a product under the original name might be fine on safety or nutritional grounds, or even on solid marketing evidence, but instead, General Mills and Post pandered to ideological campaigns and organic, elitist pressure from people who probably don’t, and won’t, buy General Mills or Post products in any incarnation.
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Read the full original article: General Mills Turns To ‘Raja Of The Country Of World Peace’ To Certify Its Costlier, Non-GMO Cheerios
