Mars Inc. is reported to expand its CocoVia line of heart healthy dark chocolates with heart healthy milk chocolates in the snacks category, scheduled to arrive in 500 stores in the US in October.
Claiming as usual with the antioxidants content in chocolate, facts provided break the claim as per which milk chocolate has less antioxidants than dark chocolate, carrying only 15.9mg catechins per 100 gm of milk chocolate.
Facts from New York Times provide that these milk chocolates on one hand attracts consumers with a tag line ‘healthy’, but on the other hand is the most dubious promotion with a 5 mg of cholesterol, 21g of sugar and 110 to 150 calories backing it. This case of marketing becomes even more evident with the product accompaniment in an indulgent chocolate drink. What is pointed out here is the need to cater to the demands of milk chocolate by the consumers.
Why is Mars tagging it as healthy and forcibly pushing it into the CocoVia line? The answer is consumers in the US are not yet convinced with the benefits of dark chocolates and therefore milk chocolates had to be forced to salvage sales of CocoVia line.
To add to this, Mars is doing its best not to fall from the eyes of the nutritionists and to create another claim on white chocolate when dark chocolate’s nutrition in a candy stays unresolved.
