Olestra, the greatest failed marketing campaign ever?

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Maybe Seattle is purposefully left off the Olestra council's marketing campaign, given the very strong pro-"natural foods" forces here, and maybe olestra products are enjoying ingrained success elsewhere...

But I'm guessing not. If so, holy F. Didn't major food product conglomerates spend 25 years on a very ambitious research campaign to make this happen? And when it finally hit the markets, a few people said "Teehee.. anal leakage" and everyone else shrugged and forgot.

Olestra may be evil, but the degree to which this campaign failed still makes me pity those poor synthetic fat molecules.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 18:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't Olestra the stuff that gives you diarrhea? I think the lesson is that no amount of advertising can make a bigger impression on buyers than the shits. (They should teach that in marketing classes.)

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, the phrase "May cause anal leakage" can deep-six pretty much any project. It could work for a metal band, but that's about it.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Funny, I was just about to post that the first phrase that comes to mind is "anal leakage." That's some pretty strong branding.

― Chris Dahlen (Chris Dahlen), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Aaah, Aaron, one would agree. But one local cookie company here (in Seatac) has taken your obvious marketing bugaboo and reversed its evil. I present to you:

Cow Chip Cookies

Everyone I know loves them, or has become a convert at my doing. Granted, the key word here is "local". I have no idea how successful they could be nationally. But damn, I would love to see a world where dancing shitting cows replaces Mrs. Field's everywhere.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 18:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Now THAT'S funny!

My girl friend pointed out a sign outside this dinner for... damn, now I forget what it's called... carbotine or something? Basically, it's ice cream with absolutly not calories or nutritional value that, as she said, "is popular with sorority girls."

All I can think about is what Jack Lalanne said was the secret to his longivity -- "never eat anything manmade."

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Olestra and the rupture of immanence.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 19:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Olestra and the imminent rupture (in yr pants)

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

(Ugh... dinner -> diner)

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought the catch phrase was "May cause loose stools." *hee*

― Carey (Carey), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I (rather nervously) ate some of the olestra potato chips (Wow brand) and no "bad things" happened. They weren't bad, actually.

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 20:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I have been meaning to start a thread abt this for ages, based on the "may cause anal leakage" phrase, which surely scuppered this produkt (& made me laugh a lot as well, hubris clobbered by nemesis etc). I couldn't remember thee name ov thee stuff tho, so thanx donut. To the best of my knowledge, the stuff has never been marketed over here.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

The thing is, it's sort of taking off with "low-fat" potato chips -- only instead of the big "hey wow look it's Olestra" labelling up front, there's just a vague "these have less fat, but don't worry about how we accomplished that, it's no biggie."

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought most low-fat chips are that way because they're baked rather than fried. I had a lemonade yesterday that I discovered later had only about 10 calories because it was made with nutrasweet. I would have bought it anyway, but they weren't trying to hide anything. Always check the label, I guess.

Also, there's this type of fish, I think called escolar, that has a non-digestible type of fat that causes diarrhea in some people. Anybody try it?

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 23:53 (twenty-two years ago)

what it needed was some sort of crazy fad regimen that its ingredients/nutritional value would fit in with perfectly -- the sugar subsitute known as splenda is enjoying quite a bit of success because it fits in so well with the atkins diet. and i mean, that diet's effects on the bowels ... ick.

― maura (maura), Thursday, 17 April 2003 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

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