Every year in January, the United States Potato Board (USPB) commissions a national online survey of 1,000+ US female primary food shoppers to track current potato attitudes and use in US households, and especially among our media target market. This survey also provides insights into additional topics as needed, such as recipe use, use of the microwave, etc.
Potatoes Are Back!
A key tracking metric the USPB uses to determine how our Domestic Marketing program is performing is the “net negative” measure (Slide 28 on the attachments following this story). This is a composite metric that measures people who either Agreed that potatoes are fattening, OR Disagreed that potatoes are nutritious OR Disagreed that potatoes are an important part of a well-balanced diet OR Disagreed that potatoes are a good food for the way I live today OR Disagreed that potatoes are a good food for the health conscious. This measure reached it height (bad for the potato industry) during the days when the Atkins Diet was at its peak (35%). Over time, and with the implementation of the “Potatoes…Goodness Unearthed®” nutrition multi-media campaign, along with the combined efforts of the entire industry’s communications, we have reduced (good for the industry) the net negative score to 18%! This score is back to pre-Atkins days before anyone would have ever even thought to be wary of carbohydrates. What caused this significant drop? USPB research indicates it is due to a big drop in agreement to the belief that “potatoes are fattening”.
For more information on this report, or any other USPB research or programs, please contact USPB Domestic Marketing Vice President, Kathleen Triou, at 303-873-2312 (direct) / 303-369-7783 (main) / 720-225-0931 (efax) or ktriou@uspotatoes.com.
Source: United States Potato Board