Leading US fresh produce marketer Dole Food Company wants consumers to see salads as an opportunity for self-indulgence and has teamed up with actress and self-professed salad lover Felicity Huffman – star of hit television comedy Desperate Housewives – to convey that message as part of its ongoing Dole Salad'tude campaign.
In a statement, Dole revealed it was encouraging consumers to be a little selfish during the summer months in order to put together a salad that perfectly matched their own preferences.
'We're encouraging salad lovers to adopt a 'salad state of mind' this summer – and giving them the licence to practice a new attitude of healthy salad self-indulgence,' explained Chris Mayhew, vice=president of marketing at Dole Fresh Vegetables.
Launched earlier this year, the Dole Salad'tude project involves a range of marketing activities designed to engage with salad consumers in the US.
As reported in mid-May on the Food Loves Writing blog, the group is working hard to establish salads as a highly personal product, rather than a mass-produced, homogenous one.
The latest part of the campaign is aimed at dispelling the myth that healthy eating cannot also be exciting and indulgent.
'This means combining those fresh ingredients and flavors you crave the most, whether everyday or unexpected, with a little imagination and pizzazz to create your own salad masterpiece,' Mayhew continued.
'The result can be pure enjoyment of a perfectly crafted salad, and those rare moments of personal and culinary contentment we call Salad'tude.'
The multimedia campaign, which will see Dole roll out a number of other high-profile marketing projects this summer, follows the company's successful partnerships with a host of non-food celebrities last year, when it aimed to position salad as a unique opportunity for consumers to show off their creativity in the kitchen.
This year's theme of Salad'tude has apparently been chosen to promote that feeling of self-expression further, focusing on themes of wholesome pampering and togetherness.
'Salad'tude is all about helping salad users tap into their love for creating and enjoying their ultimate salad,' Mayhew added. 'Either alone or shared with family or friends as part of a salad celebration.'
