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Plastered People Prefer Pedialyte

1/9/2016

8 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, Founder of Mindful Marketing
It’s nice sometimes to step back in time and taste the food you enjoyed as a child, for instance: Pop-Tarts, Pez, Fruity Pebbles, . . . Pedialyte.  Well, you probably didn’t “enjoy” Pedialyte if you took it for the reasons most kids do—to help them recover faster from the flu.  Some adults, however, are appreciating Pedialyte for a more mature reason—to overcome hangovers.

That’s right, people who’ve gotten sloshed are picking up bottles of Pedialyte to help them pull through the day-after effects.  How did someone discover that Pedialyte could serve this other purpose?  It’s hard to know, but perhaps some inebriated parent still had the wherewithal to see the similarity:  “Pedialyte makes my kid feel better when he throws-up from the flu, so it should help me feel better after vomiting because of my bender.” 
 
It’s not uncommon for consumers to find alternative uses for products and for companies to capitalize on them.  For instance, most of us wouldn’t have thought that soda used for baking could also deodorize refrigerators and keep swimming pools clear, but somebodies found these applications, and Arm & Hammer has marketed them, as well as a variety of other brand extensions.
 
However it was discovered, celebrities Pharrell Williams and Miley Cyrus can be credited for disseminating Pedialyte as a hangover cure to the masses, by highlighting their own use in social media.  Williams says he drinks Pedialyte nearly every day, and Cyrus reportedly posed for a picture with a bottle of the remedy.
 
Thanks to social media and old school word-of-mouth, Pedialyte’s alternative use has ballooned, becoming big business for the medicine’s maker, Abbott Laboratories.  Since 2012, adult usage of the elixir has increased by nearly 60%.  While adult use historically had accounted for 10%-15% of Pedialyte sales, it now represents over 33% of total revenue, or upwards of $102 million.
 
Abbott Labs is also pleased with the new-found adult market because it breaks the bounds of seasonality.  Normal Pedialyte sales peak during the cold and flu season and at other times remain stagnant.  However, since people have hangovers all year-round, the adult market represents an even more reliable source of revenue, as well as one that promises double digit sales growth.
 
Given the momentum of Pedialyte sales to those who party hearty, one may wonder if Abbott Labs aims to put some perceptual distance between the two markets.  For instance, it could rename and otherwise rebrand the liquid for the adult market in order to avoid the disconnect of giving the same Pedialyte to a baby fighting the flu and a dude trying to bounce back from a binge.  Apparently Abbott Labs has no such plans.
 
Instead, the company will simply add “larger powered-stick packs for adults,” and it will offer “adult friendly-flavors” including strawberry lemonade and orange.  Meanwhile, the Pedialyte name and most other branding will remain the same for both markets. To promote Pedialyte to adults, Abbott Labs has been using a campaign called “See the Lyte,” which suggests the drink as an antidote to too much alcohol, such as from a Cinco de Mayo celebration.  The company also plans to promote to the adult market through social media and online advertising as well as by sampling the product at music festivals and sporting events.
 
So, whether you’re a kid fighting the flu or an adult battling a bender, there’s only one product you need to know—Pedialyte.  Of course, Abbott Labs isn’t using the preceding as advertising copy, yet it’s essentially suggesting the same thing by not renaming and rebranding  Pedialyte for the adult market.  So far this lack of separation doesn’t seem to be hurting sales in either market, but eventually it may, particularly as Pedialyte-the-hangover-cure becomes better known.  At that point parents may feel funny giving their sick toddler the same thing that recently intoxicated grown-ups take.
 
Potentially even more problematic, however, is the association that’s being built between Pedialyte and the overuse of alcohol.  On one level, it’s dangerous to connect something meant for children with something else intended only for adults—remember cartoon character Joe Camel selling cigarettes?  What makes things even worse, though, is that “adult” Pedialyte is not just associated with alcohol but with alcohol abuse.
 
It’s not people who drink a glass of wine with dinner or who have a couple of beers before bedtime who need Pedialyte.  It’s those who exceed moderate alcohol intake and become wasted.  Of course, drinking to the level of intoxication is potentially harmful physically, mentally, and socially to those doing the drinking.  Furthermore, consequences like broken relationships and drunk-driving accidents suggest that alcohol abuse also is not good for society as a whole.
 
What makes the Pedialyte’s adult branding even more perplexing is the fact that the parent company, Abbott Laboratories, seeks to position itself as an organization that helps people “Live Healthy.”  Abuse of alcohol certainly does not constitute healthy living.  But, by promoting its product as a cure for the common hangover, Abbott Labs diminishes one of the main deterrents to drunkenness and suggests that it’s okay to get smashed.
 
Given the sales success that Abbott Labs has enjoyed in the adult Pedialyte market, it seems the product’s alternate use is creating stakeholder value, at least for now.  Supporting alcohol abuse, however, compromises important societal values such as decency and respect: intoxicated individuals are prone to do things that are indecent and that place themselves and others at risk.  Marketing Pedialyte to adults, therefore, represents “Single-Minded Marketing.”


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8 Comments
Drew Betz
1/9/2016 12:02:39 pm

Pedialyte is obviously not taking the long term affects into account. Not only are they supporting alcohol abuse, which can have negative effects on more than just those drinking, but what family is going to want to buy a drink for their kids that adults are using to get over their hangovers? They could easily create Pedialyte under two labels. One with the original name for the kids getting over the flu, and one with a new name for the adults using it for its alternate purpose.
By having the two separate labels it gives parents piece of mind about giving their kids something that was created for the flu, and not something created for hangovers. When a product is advertising something like binge drinking, anyone who views binge drinking as wrong will disregard the ad, or even be offended. This makes them much less likely to purchase the product under any circumstance. Changing the labels is a simple way to avoid this problem in the future, and will also help focus in on a more specified target market for each product. This is definitely a case of single-minded marketing, and as Pedialyte's advertising for binge drinking increases, it is inevitable that they will lose costumers. The real question is, will that loss of their flu costumers outweigh that of their new hangover crowd?

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D.L. Browne
1/9/2016 05:04:54 pm

After reading this article, I am going to have to agree with the author that Pedialyte is taking a single-minded marketing approach to their product. Drinking is an extremely popular and common activity that is taken on by people of all ages, whether over 21 or under. The part of drinking that people don't like is the horrible hangovers that hit them the next day. It is only good news to people when they find out that there is a way to cure the feeling of being sick in your stomach, and seeing that Pedialyte is the answer to this seems great. But it isn't! I am fairly disappointed to see that a company like Pedialyte is encouraging the use of their product for hangover cures, when it is supposed to be supplied as a medical cure for kids fighting the flu. There are three main points that I want to make about Pedialyte that displays a negative appearance to me, because of the decision that this company made. The first is that they are encouraging and practically saying that it is okay to get drunk/ binge drink. I find it ironic that a company that is selling a product that is supposed to cure children who are fighting the flu, are now encouraging people to participate in an action that will have a long term negative health effect on their bodies, because people can use their product, which will act as a positive short term cure (relieve of hangovers). The second issue here is that drinking has a negative effect on society. Now, I am not saying that going out and having a few beers with friends hurts. I am aiming specifically towards those who decide to drink excessive amounts and drive home. I am talking about the ones who can't control what they say and do. People get addicted and it causes problems with families and friends, and can even have a negative effect on people that you don't even know. The fact of the matter comes down to my last point of the three. That is that the company is more worried about the money that is flowing into their pockets, than the people that they are putting a negative encouragement in front of. Does this create stakeholder value? Absolutely! But the morals and reasons behind their decision don't hold up to the proper values of society, and in fact it is a lack of respect to society as a whole. It will be interesting to see if many of their customers, which I am assuming are a majority of people with children, decide to find a product from a different company instead. If they did, I wouldn't blame them or be surprised.

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Kevin Lyon
1/10/2016 03:43:32 pm

I think that Abbott Laboratories is making a very big mistake by endorsing the use of their main product, Pedialyte, to lessen the effects of a hangover. Firstly, Abbott Labs is directly supporting alcohol abuse by releasing adult friendly flavors, producing advertisements directed towards a more mature audience, and distributing samples at sporting events. By exposing your body to excessive amounts of alcohol you are putting your health at risk which is the complete opposite of what pedialyte is meant for. Pedialyte still generates most of its revenue from the consumers who purchase it to help aid their sick child. Once this core group consumers realizes that they don't want their child drinking something that helps alleviate hangovers they will most likely bring their business to another company that stands true to their ethical values. All this discrepancy could have been avoided by simply switching the label for the "adult" pedialyte right after the celebrity endorsement by Pharell and Cyrus. If Abbott Labs starts to lose more customers than they are gaining from their adult community, they might need to start discussing releasing a separate adult line in order to save their business.

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Kyle Bjorkman
1/10/2016 05:53:36 pm

I disagree with categorizing of Abbot Labs marketing as Single Minded. Rather I think is very much Mindful. I think that our society as a whole does accept getting wasted on alcohol. The majority of TV shows have characters who would be classified as alcoholics and many episodes end with the entire cast in a bar drinking the work week away. I think based on that alone you would have to classify it as socially acceptable. If Pharrell Williams and Miley Cyrus are doing it then so are countless others. Furthermore I would say that the majority of our society has not made the leap from "getting wasted" to "alcohol abuse" even though they are one and the same. I would however recommend that they rebrand Pedialyte because kids with the flu is a completely different market from drunk adults. If for some reason this new use of Pedialyte doesn't continue to work it would have no effect on its current flu related sales. Now with all that being said Abbot Labs selling a hangover fix does NOT fit with is reputation of being a "living healthy" company.

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John Griffitts
1/10/2016 07:52:04 pm

I believe that Pedialyte really has “wasted” their time with their new marketing promotion (pun-intended). Their decision to promote their product as a hangover cure as well as a children’s product is extremely single-minded and could provide for some adverse effects for the company in the future. I believe this will affect the company negatively because children’s products and hangover related treatments do not seem to mix well with me. The fact that Pedialyte is promoted for hangovers may deter the sales of people utilizing it with children. If I were a parent and had never heard of the product, I would never buy it for my child if it was promoted for binge drinking recovery. The same logic can be applied for the opposite. If I had been drinking excessively, I would probably not use the product and question its effectiveness for adults because it is also promoted for pediatric use. Secondly, I do not believe that the company is particularly promoting binge drinking to the point of hangovers, however, they are not exactly condemning it either which might be just as bad. This is quite a turn off for a conservative consumer for myself. It might not be the majority of the population that would be turned off by this, but I believe that it would be a pretty hefty amount. With all of this being said, I believe that the company did not clearly think this promotion through. They may decrease their market share with this promotion and its single-minded orientation.

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Tim Dunn
1/11/2016 10:47:14 am

It is hard to support Abbott Laboratories decision to market Pedialyte for adults with massive hangovers, when it was originally created and marketed to help children with the flu rehydrate. The core ethical concern with this type of marketing is the endorsing of alcohol abuse. This seems counter-intuitive for a health company to support, but after seeing only a few of the "See the Lyte" advertisements, it becomes obvious Abbot Laboratories is to some degree supporting alcohol abuse.
In defense of this marketing decision, I could see someone giving the following argument: whether we like it or not people will over drink, and accepting this while helping those overcome the "day after consequences" is a responsible and profitable decision. While at first glance this argument may seem somewhat compelling, as it is common knowledge that today's culture seems to (at least moderately) condone large amounts of alcohol consumption, and that many will participate in overdrinking despite whatever decision Abbot Laboratories decides to do with their marketing, this argument ultimately fails.
As I mentioned earlier, the core concern with this type of marketing is the endorsing of alcohol abuse, and it is important to notice the word used is endorsing rather than accepting. It would be one thing for Abbott Laboratories to just accept people over drink, and perhaps their product could be a good hangover remedy for people who made the mistake of overdrinking. Unfortunately it is not at all clear Abbot Laboratories is taking this approach, and much evidence seems to lead to the contrary. The advertisements for adult Pedialyte seem to show drinking in a positive light, with people enjoying themselves and partying, and not having to deal with a hangover due to their product. The underlying message of these advertisements seems to be, drink all you want and have no hangover! This is much different than merely marketing Pedialyte as a solution for dealing with a hangover which occurred from overdrinking. Taking into mind Pedialyte's increased sales to the adult population, I would have to classify their new marketing strategy as single-minded, due to it not upholding a high level of ethical considerations yet an increase in sales.

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Joshua Alexander Bailey
1/12/2016 10:21:19 am

I have to say that is seems that we're all spectacularly overthinking this whole situation. I will level with the opposition that it probably would be better for them the repackage the same formula under a different name so as to prevent cross market confusion. However it is absolutely ludicrous to thinking that a child would be influenced to grow up and become a binge drinker on account of his having taken cough medicine packaged for post alcohol headache medicine in his youth. What exactly is it that the opposition is so afraid of happening? Perhaps his Pedialyte is going to be the next “gateway drug?” Are children going to be brought up with the medicine and become so enthralled with the shear awesomeness of Pedialyte that they possess and have no control but to abuse the unlimited power that is possess and binge drink themselves into having to use it? Children are going to grow up to make decisions based on any number of factors. However, knowing that they can escape a hangover with cough medicine begin the factor that pushes a child over the edge, that I find difficult to believe.
But I don’t think people are just concerned about it having an effect on children. I genuinely feel that people think that adult are susceptible to the idea that having that ability to overcome a hangover is a license to drink irresponsibly. And more specifically if Pedialyte is marketed to adult as a hangover cure then they are somehow condoning that act. That is of course ridiculous. People are going to drink regardless of whether they have a hangover cure or not, or whether it is even legal or not, as we’ve seen. People are responsible for their own actions. Just because Pedialyte is marketing itself in a way that people find it appealing doesn’t mean their condoning behavior that people themselves should be responsible for knowing isn’t a good or healthy thing to do. That argument is as paper thin as the idea that the republicans hatched a few years ago that having mandatory HPV vaccines would make kids sex maniacs. There are still consequences for actions. Even if people know about ways to make is less terrible they are still aware of the drink’s negative effects health, stamina, and longevity in life. People are going to drink regardless of whether or not they get a hangover. They are also going to drink whether or not they have a hangover cure.

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Sara Mammano
1/22/2016 06:22:22 pm

I agree that this is single-minded. I think it is odd that this company would even want to have an association between hangover cures and cures for children who have the flu. this will eventually cause brand dilution because since this new use is becoming trendy (especially with the help of voluntary endorsements from celebrities) more and more people will start to buy the medicine for hangovers. however, as that reputation for the brand picks up, a lot of parents will switch to other brands of flu medication. I can say this because I know for me in the future, I don't think I would want to be treating my sick child with the same medication that can cure people's hangovers. so if the brand loses the reputation for treating sick children, it will need to rebrand itself to appeal for the real reason people are using it. this endeavor will costs lots of money for advertising and packaging costs. also, it is unethical to market to people who are abusing a very dangerous substance. by encouraging that behavior for the production of sales, parents are even more inclined to pick another brand of medicine. overall, this new use may bring in sales in the short-term, but I have a hard time believing this will be a long-term profit-booster.

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