It was a close call, but Kashi Co. head food developer Jeff Grogg can forgo adding cardboard boxes to his diet.
Kashi yesterday released the results of Grogg’s Cardboard Showdown, in which Kashi sampled its TLC Chewy Trail Mix granola bars and offered customers a unique guarantee—if consumers didn’t like the product, Grogg said he would eat the cardboard box in which the bars are packaged.
The promotion garnered 102,703 votes. Some 52% of those voting said the bar was quite tasty, whereas 34% said the same, but told Grogg to eat the box. Some 14% of consumers said the bars tasted a lot like cardboard.
Consumers who requested samples on the Kashi site received an e-mail Wednesday from Grogg that drove people to the Web site to see the Cardboard Challenge results. Sampling efforts for the La Jolla, CA-based company ran through Sept. 26.
On the site, Grogg leaves consumers with a video message about the challenge. The message will be available through Oct. 30.
“I want to thank you for voting and helping me prove that food that is good for you tastes good,” Grogg said in a video as he drops an empty Kashi box into an open grill. “I would like to thank you for not making me eat a cardboard box. I was ready to do it. I was going to do it, but I am so glad I don’t have to do it.”