Philip Morris Companies, the tobacco giant behind Marlboro, owned Lunchables for 23 years and used cigarette research strategies to shape the brand.
- Internal documents show Philip Morris shared scientists, technology, and product development methods across its tobacco, food, and alcohol divisions, with Lunchables serving as a model example of that strategy.
- Lunchables was engineered to appeal to kids’ desire for autonomy and to ease mothers’ guilt, using the same consumer psychology approach Philip Morris developed for cigarettes.
- Researchers say tobacco-style regulations, including warning labels, taxes, and restrictions on child-focused marketing, may be worth applying to ultraprocessed foods like Lunchables.
It’s crucially important to raise kids with an understanding of whole food and its importance. You can’t keep them from processed food, but you can make it clear it’s a sometimes choice. Once they’re an adult and start to care about their health, they can build on the whole food foundation you gave them.
But God, so many of us were just raised on whatever came out of a box or packet or tube.