Is this the right KIND of advertising?

KIND Bar takes a “not so kind” approach to knock the competition.

This commercial really has me stumped about the KIND brand. I have a feeling whoever is managing the brand has a couple of things they want to drive home; 1) just because KIND is the name of the brand it doesn’t mean they’re KIND when it comes to their competition. And 2) the best way to position against your competition is to attack them. (Which unfortunately is popular in political advertising but not as endearing when it comes to healthy food choices.)  

So, I’m gonna jump on my soapbox for a second. Here is KIND Bar, the most popular brand of healthy snack bar, they’re in every grocery store, big box store, convenience store, coffee shop and any other impulse buying opportunity.  They are clearly the most recognized and the most popular (if they weren’t the most popular they wouldn’t be on shelves everywhere). They are clearly the leader in the category. Mission accomplished, right? But I guess that’s not good enough. So what happened for this commercial to be produced? Did the research show that Cliff Bar is coming up fast? Or did the focus group research show that there is a perception that KIND Bars have too much sugar because they are sticky and gooey? 

Stepping off the soapbox, let’s look at the commercial. When I first saw this TV spot I was taken aback that this KIND brand would run a commercial that is clearly not kind at all. Coke taught us all a long time ago that if you’re the leader, you take the high road and don’t even acknowledge that any competition exists. That has served the Coke brand well for decades. Even when Pepsi was running the Pepsi Challenge, Coke never flinched or choked (pardon the analogy). But to me, the minute KIND mentioned any of their competition and made a negative statement about how much more sugar is in their product, they actually made a very negative statement about the KIND brand – it's KIND in name only. Why couldn’t they take the high road and just state confidently that KIND bar for all that sticky goodness only has 5 grams of sugar? The sticky goodness is what holds all the healthy nuts, fruit and seeds together like no other snack bar. So healthy and so tasty with so little sugar. Why pour caramel sauce out of the Cliff bar package like it's some kind of bad candy bar? And KIND doesn’t even mention how much sugar is in their product except by text graphic yet showing nuts all shiny with goo and chocolate being poured over them. It seems like they stooped to a lower form of advertising for a product that doesn’t need that kind of approach. For me, this commercial has had the opposite effect on my shopping habit. I will intentionally pass over the KIND bar now and reach for something else, even if that something else is not as delicious or satisfying. I believe a brand like KIND should live up to its name in all things. This commercial is clearly not my kind of advertising.