Iconic brands, such as Hostess and Little Debbie bring back memories of happier childhood days when things were easy and care-free. The advertising campaigns and packaging design were targeted at children and boded well with their target audience. As these kids grew older and the Twinkie (& Hostess brand all together) remainded unchanged buyer behavior adjusted. Those kids became parents and food trends evolved. Parents became more concerned with eating and feeding their family healthy, quality options, rather than fast, cheap ones.
In the Wall Street Journal, Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst for a consumer markerting research firm confirms that "Consumption of healthy snacks is growing, too. About 32% of Americans ate yogurt at least once in two weeks in 2011, for instance, up from 18 % in 2000. "We're less likely to be snacking on items that we shouldn't be snacking on." Instead of adjusting to the trends of more healthy snacking, Twinkie stood by their old memorable brand model, so it's no surprise that this company is now filing for bankruptcy for the second time. In order to maintain sales with your target audience, companies need to adjust to developing trends.
However among rumors of the company going bankrupt, customers are coming to the rescue. Even though most Americans have changed their shopper behavior to fit a more healthy lifestyle, they still cannot stand the thought of losing the Hostess brand and all the childhood memories and emotions that came with eating those delicious and mal-nutritious Twinkies. Will this quick attempt to save the company work? My guess is no, since people may not be willing to change their healthy lifestyle to make up for Hostess' loses.


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