Parents go to great lengths to get their kids to eat more vegetables. These efforts include sneaking greens into other foods, engaging in bribery and even just telling white lies.
Kraft is attempting to jump on the lying bandwagon with a new salad dressing product aimed at kids: Kraft Salad “Frosting.”
The product is just Kraft Classic Ranch Dressing disguised in a frosting container. “According to a recent study, Ranch dressing is the most popular dressing in the United States, and kids will eat anything with frosting, right?” the press release notes. “It’s a match made for dinnertime bliss. Now, convincing children to eat salad, broccoli and carrots may be a whole lot easier. Just add Kraft Salad ‘Frosting.’”
It’s worth noting that ranch dressing isn’t necessarily that much healthier than actual frosting. Pillsbury’s Creamy Supreme vanilla frosting has 140 calories and 5 grams of fat per 2-tablespoon serving, while Kraft’s Classic Ranch Dressing has 110 calories and 11 grams of fat for the same serving size. The Pillsbury frosting has more sugar, however, with 20 grams versus 1 gram for the Kraft dressing.
Interestingly, the idea of “salad frosting” doesn’t seem to originate with Kraft ― or with parents, for that matter. Prolific Twitter dad James Breakwell’s 6-year-old was way ahead of the brand. In February, he tweeted, “My 6-year-old called ranch dressing ‘salad frosting’ and now I’ll never call it anything else.”
A representative for the brand told HuffPost that the product has “no relation to the tweet, but that’s very funny.”
It’s unclear if kids will actually believe their salad dressing is “frosting” (after all, the flavor profiles are quite different), or if the idea of adding “frosting” will make them want to eat more greens.
Healthy and effective or not, it’s certainly an interesting gimmick.