One complaint among manufacturers and retailers of digestive products is that while consumers know about the importance of digestive health from infomercials and mainstream brands, they really don’t understand why the ingredients work the way they do.
One explanation recently came out of supermarket staple Dannon, which explained that communicating the digestive or immune health benefits of probiotic products is a better way to reach consumers than highlighting the actual term, ‘probiotic.’
“The word probiotic is an area of scientific study, not a consumer-friendly marketing term that we use very much,” Dannon’s Michael Neuwirth, senior director of public relations, said in a statement. “If you look at our product marketing, the word ‘probiotic’ is not a dominant theme at all—it’s more the benefit of the product and the importance of ongoing consumption. Consumers have told us that they are more interested in the benefit. Their first question is: ‘What will [this product] help me with?’ Only after that do they ask: ‘What is the unique ingredient?’”
But the International Probiotics Association (IPA) is looking to change that. Probiotics will take center stage in a new series of television documentaries, the first of which will be screened this fall on major channels in the United States, including Public Service Broadcasting outlets, National Geographic and Discovery, along with European and Asian networks.
The first documentary, entitled Probiotics–Micro Warriors of the Digestive Tract, will aim to educate consumers and healthcare professionals.
“There’s a lot of confusion about probiotics and we are on an educational mission,” said the series’ executive producer, David Knight. “We aim to tell people what they are and how they work with advanced animation graphics. But this won’t be a stiff science show—as well as being educational, it will also be engaging and entertaining.”
It will feature interviews with leading scientific and medical experts such as microbiologist Dr. Lynne McFarland and Dr. Eamonn Quigley, president of the World Gastroenterology Organization. Also included will be personal testimonies of patients who have benefited from probiotics, plus explanations of their mode of action and the global regulatory environment.
The IPA has pledged an undisclosed sponsorship sum and consultative advice, hoping that the documentaries would help to restore probiotics’ reputation. Micro Warriors will be produced by Health Point Press in conjunction with Ron Frank Productions.
