Carrots Are The New Cheetos

In an effort to make healthy snacking “sexier” and more satisfyingly indulgent, Bolthouse Farms, one of the largest U.S. producers of baby carrots, has teamed up with marketing behemoth Crispin Porter + Bogusky to create an all-natural carrot snack packaged as junk food.

Several high school districts across the country have even begun stocking these snacks in their vending machines, along-side traditional staples like Doritos, Sun Chips and Snickers bars.

According to Bolthouse Farms and Crispin Porter, the baby carrot business rakes in $1 billion a year, indicating that, indeed, this is a healthy snack the American population enjoys and is willing to embrace.

I truly love this idea, and the fact that snack companies and schools are working together to offer kids healthy food options. However, for this “carrots as junk food” concept to work, kids a) need to have acquired a taste for healthy foods like vegetables, and b) understand WHY choosing carrots over processed foods is a wise decision that will affect the body in a positive way.

Unless kids grow up in an environment where healthy foods are available and promoted, I can’t see them choosing a bag of plain baby carrots over a fatty, synthetically tasty snack.

So while introducing today’s generation to vending machines stocked with carrots may sound a bit far-fetched, I can certainly see such healthy snacking practices adopted and even becoming standard 10 to 15 years from now. A step in the right direction.

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