Dinner Time Is Family Time
Having grown up in the 60's and 70's, family dinner was just that - dinner. Everything revolved around dinner in the Field household. We ate at a certain time, and as children we were called in by a ship's bell mounted on the back porch. You could hear that bell from anywhere in the neighborhood. God help you if you were late. Many of my best, and also many not so fond memories, were of dinners at home. You felt protected and secure in that setting.
Family dinners seem to be a thing of the past for many families today. Usually both parents work, commutes are longer, and organized sports including travel teams have replaced pick-up games. Multiple dinner shifts, take-out and fast food are the new norm. It makes marketing food products a challenge. How do you remain relevant and appealing in a changing world?
Stouffer's is taking a bold public stance with a retro appeal
called Let's Fix Dinner.
It makes perfect sense, both emotionally and rationally. It starts
with a strong no-nonsense positioning premise - "Stouffer's is
helping to build strong families around the dinner table, one meal
at a time."
There is strong evidence that eating dinner together makes a difference for families and couples alike. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University studies show that children in families that eat four or more meals together each week have lower obesity rates, are less likely to abuse drugs or suffer from eating disorders and have higher graduation rates. This is compelling evidence that sitting down and teaching children communication and listening skills has value to kids and parents alike. It's a great time to share the events of the day, discuss news and ideas, or just be together enjoying each other's company. What better place to broach difficult topics than over dinner!
Stouffer's has tapped into something here. Call me old school, but eating dinner at home as a family makes a difference. The web site www.letsfixdinner.com is well done and doesn't preach or lecture. It is open and approachable, letting the user engage on their terms. The webisodes feature real people with real life situations that mirror what families face in 2010 in trying to sit down for dinner. You feel for these people as they struggle with making it in today's economy. Users have the opportunity to join the challenge of eating at home, with hundreds of prizes available weekly. Did I mention a $1.00 coupon as well?
Yes, Stouffer's is trying to sell more product by reaching deeper into the consumer's consciousness. According to their web counter, dinners served were 19,600 at the time I write this blog post. If Stouffer's helps to bring families together, that is great! It is social engagement in the truest form. They are connecting the brand with families in real time with honest to goodness face time. Yes, you can connect with Let's Fix Dinner via Facebook. But for families and friends, there is no better way than face to face over dinner. Kudos to Stouffer's!
I, too, grew up in a household that ate dinner, at the table, every night. No TV or radio... (of course those were the days before texting and iPods - but those would've been forbidden as well!)
Now that I'm a mom, and work full time, and my daughter is a teen with the typical busy schedule, I find it hard to pull off in our house every night. I do, however, try to do it at least a few nights a week. (And I do not allow iPods or texting at the table... LOL)
It's a time when we can talk about her day at school, what her friends are up to, what things are coming up, etc. and sometimes, like you said, it's just about spending time together. Even if it's for only 20-30 minutes...
I think it's important and also admit, it requires concerted effort - perhaps more than it should - after all, it's sooo much easier to plop down in front of TV and watch NCIS together while eating dinner than to go through the whole setting the table thing... but I also think it's worth that effort when it's done.
I applaud Stouffer's for encouraging such an "old-fashioned" type of thing vs. pushing the multitude of ways to "eat on the run" that many of the other food product companies are using.
Now, I think I'll go check out that whole available prizes for families that eat at home thing and grab my $1 coupon!
Coupons... now there's ANOTHER subject... for another time...
Lack of family time at the dinner table is certainly due to our increasingly frenzied society. Employing an emotional communications strategy rather than a rational approach was a smart move by Stouffers. There's a little guilt mixed in with a little nostalgia resulting from this campaign, reminding us how things used to be in the good ol' days.
One thing to keep in mind. While Stouffers has undertaken a noble stand about family togetherness at dinnertime, the dinners should be served in small portions. The sodium content, fat and calories in Stouffer meals can be enough to meet your daily requirement in one sitting. That may build strong families but it can also build fat, bloated ones as well.