Brand activism: Maggi Ketchup cuts sugar content, addressing health concerns

With the Covid pandemic, concern about one’s health and following a healthy routine, including diet and exercising, has gained precedence for a majority of the people. Therefore, when there are concerns raised on social media about some not-so-healthy facts about regular brands, people are paying more attention.

One recent incident that has been all over the news was a short video made by blogger Revant Himatsingka, who is popularly known on social media as ‘Foodpharmer’, wherein he brought to people’s attention about the ‘high sugar’ content in a popular brand Bournvita. Even as social media erupted with comments, Bournvita’s response was swift as it sent a legal notice to Himatsingka. Following this, the food blogger took down his video.

A few days back, Himatsingka took on two popular brands of tomato ketchup – Maggi and Kissan – in his video, wherein he highlighted that even though the packaging of the product says that the ketchup brand uses fresh tomatoes, it’s not the reality. If one checks the back of the packaging, there’s a line that states ‘Fresh Tomato is only a brand name/ trade mark and does not represent its true nature’.

Himatsingka showed some of older ads of Kissan and Maggi Ketchups to prove his point.

“Just like every product, they want you to use this with everything. In its ads, the brand expands on this, saying how it can be used with sabzis, rotis,” he added.

Adgully carried a report on Himatsingka’s video on Kissan and Maggi on May 11, 2023. Now it has been brought to our notice that Maggi Ketchup has released a video on Instagram where it states that the brand has rolled out a new recipe which has 22% less sugar without compromising on the taste. The video states that 1 tablespoon (9 gm) of the new Maggi Ketchup has less than 3 gm of sugar, thus making it less than 10 calories.

At the same time the video also cautions consumers to maintain balance and moderation in their food habits for a healthy life.

Maggi Ketchup has also clarified that its decision to slash sugar content in its product is not a result of the food blogger’s video, but has been in the making for quite some time as the brand addresses health concerns of consumers proactively.

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