More UK consumers are aware of the health benefits of potatoes due to the success of a new television advertising campaign, the Potato Councilclaims.
The Potato Council's summer 'Many Faces of Potatoes' campaign aired on ITV and Sky channels in July to a target audience of 3.6 million 25-44 year olds, and the industry body said that after seeing the advert, 95 per cent of consumers agreed potatoes were healthy compared to 83 per cent of non-viewers.
In addition to the television campaign, a series of roadshows reached over 500,000 shoppers, with samples and recipe books handed out at supermarkets across the country.
Gillian Kynoch, development and innovation director at Albert Bartlett, praised the campaign for highlighting the health attributes of potatoes.
She explained: “With health and taste at the top of everyone’s agenda, Potato Council’s advertising campaign really highlighted these wonderful attributes of potatoes. This should help stamp out any misconceptions and put potatoes at the top of shoppers’ minds when they are looking for a tasty, easy and nutritious meal.”
Meanwhile, Stu Baker, Potato Council marketing and PR executive, said that the campaign confirmed that the body's new classification system for potato varieties had been a success.
Consumer response to the classification system, which launched last year,has seen high recognition of ‘salad’, ‘fluffy’ and ‘smooth’ varieties among the general public. ‘Natural’ and ‘nutritious’ also scored well, with over a third of consumers associating bothterms with potatoes.
