Sometimes people don’t want to eat healthier.
General Mills (GIS) said on Thursday it is bringing back the original version of its popular Trix cereal after customers took to social media to criticize its previous decision to start selling all-natural Trix last year with ingredients like radishes and purple carrots.
“Hey Trix fans! We heard you,” General Mills said in a tweet that included a montage of customers complaints on social media such as “Your new colors are an atrocity.”
So the company, which also makes brands such as Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs, decided to change Trix back, reintroducing the original version beloved by kids for generations for its vivid colors. General Mills will resume selling the original Trix, well known for its iconic but silly rabbit mascot, in supermarkets in October along with the healthier version. While the move will surely appease many angry customers, it does mark an about-face from a pledge two years ago by General Mills to remove artificial colors and flavors from its cereals.
Trix fans! Finding your mornings are duller? We’ve got something special coming with a little color! pic.twitter.com/0tJ119bfGK
— Cereal Society (@CerealSociety) September 21, 2017
And the contretemps illustrates how difficult it can be to meet customers’ purported desire for healthier items with what they actually buy. Just look at McDonald’s (MCD) turnaround: it’s not salad that has brought customers back. Other food makers such as <a href="https://fortune.com/2017/09/21/most-powerful-women-pepsico-indra-nooyi/">PepsiCo</a> (PEP) also struggle to find the right balance.
As for General Mills, it could use all the sales help it can get these days. Earlier this week, its shares took a beating when it reported a 3.5% decline in quarterly sales and profits were well below what Wall Street analysts had been expecting and continuing a long decline in cereal sales.
