Pepsi is spending millions on a test program in Chicago to encourage inner-city African-Americans and Latinos to adopt healthier eating and exercise habits--without seeing any loss in sales for the
company. It is encouraging, for example, bodega owners to stock baked-snack alternatives to the popular but calorie-laden snacks, like Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Nacho Cheese Doritos. Whether a giant
snack and soda maker should proselytize healthier diets remains a question within the company's Purchase, N.Y. headquarters and among critics.
Beyond selling the idea to consumers, Pepsi
must persuade skeptical sales reps whose pay is driven by sales, and win over store managers accustomed to selling huge volumes of colas and salty treats. "We want to use Chicago as a lab to
understand where should we play, as it relates to health and wellness. What can we do? What do we have a responsibility to do?" says Steve Reinemund, PepsiCo's chairman.
Until now, Pepsi's
marketing of its healthier products focused on upper-income suburban mothers, including print ads with Meredith Vieira. Such ads don't work as well with some minorities because they don't identify
with those people, and respond better to a direct message. Reinemund pushed for the Chicago effort to test more grassroots marketing and education. Pepsi also plans to build playgrounds, hold seminars
on nutrition and exercise, and organize walks outside grocery stores. It will not disclose sales performance for the test program
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