• by Sarah Mahoney , October 15, 2007

Disney, which first ventured into the produce aisle a year ago, is expanding its licensed fruit and vegetables offerings, and says it will roll out four new products this fall.

Three products are ready-to-eat. Foodles--combinations of fruits, vegetables and side dishes packed into a Mickey Mouse-shaped tray--include choices like carrots, celery, tomatoes and ranch dip, and apples, peanut butter and raisins.

Also new are Quick Snacks--fruits and veggies paired with dips, like carrots and light ranch dressing--or celery and peanut butter, marketed as a lunch box alternative to chips. And then there's My Size Minis--kid-sized fruits in reusable totes filled with fresh apples, pears, peaches, plums, nectarines or oranges.

And Disney Garden Fresh Veggies & Sauce include variations like Totally Teriyaki Sugar Snap Peas, Sunny Honey Orange Carrot Coins, and Threezy Cheezy Broccoli Bites, and can be prepared in less than five minutes.

Disney certainly isn't alone in pushing produce with cartoon characters. In an effort to attract parents--many of whom are concerned by how few fruits and vegetables kids typically consume today--Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products began licensing characters for fruits and vegetables packaging in 2004, and have partnered with General Mills' Green Giant brand. SpongeBob Squarepants, for example, can be seen with the Jolly Green Giant, and Del Monte Foods has branded Sesame Street's Elmo for its green beans.

But Disney's push on kid-friendly produce comes at an interesting time, when pressure from the government, parents, and a multitude of advocacy groups are bearing down on marketers who use licensed cartoon characters to sell foods and beverages to children. Bowing to intense pressure from anti-obesity activists, a group of major companies--including Coca-Cola, Kellogg and McDonald's--promised to limit their use of licensed characters to ads that are promoting healthier products.

While it's a large and growing market--Packaged Facts reports that U.S. sales of licensed food and beverage products aimed at kids in the 3 to 11 age range rose by 10% in 2006, to $746 million--ads in the category have traditionally been for the least healthy foods. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey that examined nearly 9,000 food or beverage ads airing on 13 U.S. TV networks, for example, found that 34% of the food ads aimed at kids are for candy and snacks. Researchers didn't find a single ad for fruits or vegetables.

At this point, says a spokesperson for Disney, no TV is planned for Disney Garden's new products, either. The marketing plans for the items, which will roll out at such major food retailers as Publix, Winn Dixie, Vons, Albertsons and Price Chopper throughout the fourth quarter, are limited to in-store promotions and circulars.