Shrek: Promoting Healthy, or Mindless, Eating?

It’s likely that you’ve noticed the explosion of Shrek food products on the market since the release of the new movie a few weeks ago. His face has popped up everywhere. However, on further investigation, he seems a little confused. Shrek has been sending very conflicting message to kids about how to eat.

On one hand, he is making it cool to eat veggies again. In the Wall Street Journal, a recent article explained why onion sales have been doing so well (up 30 to 35 percent). If you’ve seen the original Shrek movie, you may remember that Shrek compared ogres to onions. As Shrek munches on an onion he tells Donkey that, “ogres are like onions … we both have layers.” Since Shrek likes onions, it was not a far stretch to work Shrek into the packaging and marketing of onions. Not surprisingly, Vadalia onion sales, with the Shrek packaging, are up. Kids are even clamoring for onions when they see Shrek on the packaging.

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