On Tuesday, breakfast-focused fast food restaurant Dunkin’ Donuts announced its new fall menu, which many Americans know will include trendy pumpkin spice-flavored options. It is a hot menu item in US fast food marketing, featuring the ever-popular pumpkin flavored dishes as customers prepare to pull out their sweaters and get ready for the holiday season.
Dunkin’ made a big move this year by hiring Ice Spice, a rapper with newfound fame who has a name that could work well with many of the fall menu’s drink options. She was joined by actor Ben Affleck in a commercial that premiered at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
“Pumpkin spice season has been a little predictable lately, so we asked our friends Ben Affleck and Ice Spice for help to create a new pumpkin obsession,” Dunkin’ Chief Marketing Officer Jill McVicker Nelson said in the company’s press release. .Dunkin’ can offer.”
Nelson is right. Pumpkin spice decadence has become too predictable, clichéd, and even tiresome for many American consumers.
In other parts of the world it is a strange curiosity. Australian website “Delicious” asked the question years ago: “Why are Americans so obsessed with pumpkin spice?” the author boiled it down For marketing, and an old trick in that industry of making something available for a limited time. It creates publicity.
There is a possibility that the promotion may cause customers to temporarily forget about the health effects of what is actually in these menu items. Or maybe many people would rationalize it as a one-time special gift.
Dunkin’s fall menu features a list of beverages that will get you caffeinated and satisfy your sweet tooth. Recently a dietitian Told prevention Dunkin’s Pumpkin Spice Latte (or PSL, as it is now colloquially known) comes to you with 540 calories a cup, according to the magazine. That’s the amount of calories equivalent to an entire decent-sized meal.
According to Diana Sugiuchi, RDN, the amount of carbs in a large size of the drink is equivalent to about five slices of bread.
Dunkin’s Press release Options for sugar-conscious consumers were not mentioned Tuesday. The company provides customers with a link to nutritional information and another document on allergens in PDF form on its website Information and content in its products. But, since consumers are able to use many drive-thru features of restaurants, it is unlikely that many people will stop to read the website in the same way to confirm the sugar content and other ingredients in their vehicles. Like they read on the boxes while shopping in the supermarket.
About this 64% Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins locations in the United States have drive-thru options. This means that its consumers are probably looking for a quick solution to their cravings.
This year, Dunkin’ called its Pumpkin Swirl drink its “most sought-after flavor.” The drink contains liquid cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, corn syrup solids, non-dairy creamer, soy lecithin, corn syrup solids, carrageenan, artificial flavors, salt and at least one preservative added to over 65 drinks. . Ingredients Listed On Dunkin’s website.
For presence on social media Account FlavacityContent creator Bobby Parrish promotes healthy food choices and warns his followers about the high levels of unhealthy ingredients.
A video he created focusing on Dunkin’s Pumpkin Swirl drink received over 200,000 likes on TikTok. In this, he sits with sizable menu items. He points to a print out of Dunkin’ Donuts ingredients warning followers about the published 185 grams of sugar.
That’s 46 teaspoons of sugar, he says, which was able to fill about half of a regular-sized plastic Dunkin’ drink cup. They said you could eat 14 of their glazed donuts and it would have the same amount of sugar.
Dunkin’ publishes sugar and calorie counts online here,
However, drinking frozen drinks makes it easy to consume all the sugar. experts tell me I am eating Too much sugar can contribute to acne, weight gain, and lethargy. Excessive consumption of it for a long period of time can lead to many chronic diseases.
“Often, when we drink something we don’t feel as full as we do when we eat the same amount of calories,” Sugiuchi tells Prevention.
So, when big fast food companies market items available for a limited time, experts would agree: It would be wise to check the ingredients in those items, and not be blinded by promotions or excitement of the season.