Marketing and all things related

Now you might think that fruit and vegetable growers would be satisfied to market their products on the basis of quality color, texture, and freshness, and you would be wrong, naturally. These days, fruits and vegetables need a boost from licensed cartoon characters to pass the muster with kids. As such, Imagination Farms, a company that distributes produce for 15 major growers has created a licensed Disney Garden product line with 30 different characters. Characters from Time Warner characters are part of a separate but similar licensing agreement.  The produce will be stocked by Albertsons and other supermarket chains. About 200 such products are expected on store shelves by January 2007. And yes, we are talking SpongeBob Spinach, Dora the Explorer Oranges, Tweety Bird grapes and Tasmanian Devil apples. Marketing Blurb is not convinced this gambit will work for children. Face it, is junior any more likely to eat SpongeBob spinach from garden variety spinach? We think not—but we still applaud Imagination Farms for the effort. You should eat your spinach and read more from The Miami Herald.