Dana Watches TV Again

Have you noticed the new ads for Activia? I've written about this stuff before , pointing out that their claims about "bifidus regularis" in no way mean that theirs is the only yogurt that has a beneficial effect on digestion, or even that theirs is the only yogurt that contains that particular strain of bifidobacteria.

What's bemusing me now is the fact that they've gone from stating that one serving per day of Activia will help regulate your digestive system, to telling us that it takes three servings per day. Three! That's a whole lot of yogurt.

Going by the nutrition info on Activia Strawberry, that's 360 calories per day of yogurt -- and 66 grams of carb, 57 of 'em from pure sugar. Furthermore, for all that sugar you'll only get 4 grams of protein per serving, or 12 grams for the day.

The question on my mind, though, is why? Why this sudden change in advertising strategy? Is it just because they think that they can get everyone to think that it's a typical, reasonable thing to do to eat three servings of highly processed yogurt per day, and therefore make triple the money they were making with their one-a-day advertising strategy?

Or is there something more behind it? You may have noticed that the ads for DanActive, which was being flogged as improving your immune system, went away some time ago. That's because they got busted for making unsubstantiated claims. So now I'm wondering if Dannon got a little love note from the government, asking for some proof of their claims, and research demonstrated you need considerably more yogurt than they said to make a difference?

I don't know. I just find it interesting, that's all. And I reiterate my assertion that any good plain yogurt with a nice broad range of bacteria will give you all the benefits yogurt can give, without all the sugar that's in Activia.