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If someone needs a Disney logo to feel comfortable with vegetables, I guess the end justifies the means.

Ick. At least they could have a line of organic veggies, or maybe have all their profits going to fighting poverty and hunger, especially in the case of children. Otherwise, I'm sticking to local farms and homegrown veggies, whether my kids like it or not.

That Disney logo comes with a mark-up. My 3 year old has suddenly developed Princess Radar and instantly sees the product on the shelf with the Disney princess on it--and wants THAT one, of course. This is definitely NOT HOT in my book.

...so THAT'S why Tinkerbell was on the strawberries or whatever it was I bought the other day. I THOUGHT it was weird. Ehh. I vote not. But then, I suppose I'm not really the target market here, being in my early twenties and childless.

This is not great, but not horrible either. Like heather77 says - if it works, it works. But I do see cmcinnyc's point as well. No one wants to have a three year old who is having a meltdown in the produce aisle over the Pocahontas apples.

Now those Disney eggs on the other hand... those are just creepy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbuXOopbWcE

since when is the disney franchise feeling the financial pinch? ugh.

i agree with ziacd's comment.

Once while on vacation in Florida I stopped in a grocery store to pick up some healthy snacks, and I really wanted those little cheese cubes. The only package that had the flavors I wanted was Disney! haha... I felt a little silly, but hey, it worked.

Anyone else notice that rather than celery, it looks like Daisy Duck is firing a rifle?

I have such mixed feelings about this. ON the one hand, if it gets kids to eat more veggies, then go for it. On the other hand, do we really need to let Disney brand EVERYTHING???

maybe you can buy a bag of something once and reuse the bag to trick your kids into thinking they're disney brand. Kids tend to enjoy more food if it's branded/packaged according to their taste, so this might be good for a disney loving picky eater

This is part of the repulsive trend to omnipresent advertising. Definitely NOT hot.

Makes me ill. Why do veggies need packaging like that anyway? Red delicious? This is pathetic.

I'd vote "not" if the poll would let me, but the "answer survey" button remains stubbornly grayed out.

I don't mind Disney endorsing veggies (at least they are plastering their characters on something other than pudding snacks and sugary cereal). However, this produce (at least in my experience) is quite a bit more expensive, then the non-Disney produce. I hate the idea of marking up a bag of apples a couple dollars because of Toy Story. If they could keep the prices closer to average and it helps kids eat their veggies, I don't care what is on my package of celery.

@chusmabilly, you would need fairly dim children. They are wily, and cannot be fooled for long.

you forgot to mention my fave: the zac efron avocado!!!

caliloud--i totally thought the same thing immediately; she's totally holding a celery rifle. ridiculous.

As goofy as this strikes the currently 25-year-old me, I think the 4-year-old me would have eaten these up (puns intended).

Please. No child eats the packaging. My 2 year old loves fruits and veggies and thinks the produce section of the market is cool. Now all I need is Dora fruit with the markup.

@Evan M - Red Delicious is an actual variety of apple, like Granny Smith or McIntosh, not a description of the apples in the bag. For all we know, those apples are not so delicious.

Can anyone offer specific figures on the costs?

There is a term for this in marketing: 'cradle to grave'.

Baby wears disposable diapers with Mickey Mouse on them, grows up eating celery, apples, and eggs with Disney characters on them, asks to go to Disneyland/Disneyworld for family vacation, as a tween watches Disney kids shows and buys into the franchise (lunchboxes, clothes, and concert tickets). They then return to these same familiar icons for their children (buying the disposable Mickey diapers), remembering them fondly in a nostalgic way.

I think advertising to children is disgusting, regardless of whether or not it's on healthy food items. It's establishing brand loyalty in children, not necessarily establishing healthy eating habits.

Perhaps these branded fruits and vegetables were designed to be eaten in Celebration, the branded Disney town!

Next up: Disney cemeteries!

Can I just say that I really happy that none of the places I shop carry this type of merchandise. It is particularly bad because the produce isn't even organic.

And I pay extra for diapers that *don't* have characters on them.

It's both! If it helps get kids to eat cauliflower, great!

And it's right up Disney's alley; anyone old enough to remember all their wartime cartoons from the 40's and 50's?

Reminds me of this study - was this mentioned on the Kitchn? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29468137/

Name the carrots X-ray Vision Carrots and little kids will eat twice as many.

@ Lizliterarius How about their STI awareness cartoons (I think from the 60's)?

Personally, I think this is a great idea for people who have children that will not eat fruits or vegetables. I see this sort of along the same lines as sneaking pureed vegetables into a kid's food.

I'm sure that everyone hopes that their child will grow up and love fruits and veggies, but the reality is that many of them don't. And if you can get them to eat those by making them seem cool, then go for it.

Alot of my coworkers are trying to eat better, but they are all on budgets and their kids hate the food that they buy (ex: apples for snacks instead of cheese nips). So instead of buying hte healthy stuff, they usually end up choosing whatever the kids will it. If they can get the kids to learn to eat those things, they in turn are able to become healthier too.

To demonstrate a little further, my little step-sister goes to a preschool where ever other kid eats Disney-brand gummy fruit snacks or cartoon animal crackers every day. She gets upset because she has to eat the "boring" fruits that are packed in her lunch every day. I really think that having fun characters on the package will make kids thing that eating these foods is cool after all.

But of course if you're lucky enough to have a kid who loves going to the farmer's market anyway, there's really no point in buying the Disney stuff.

This is actually *nothing* new - in the '50s, Disney licensed loads of their characters to various companies (until recently, only Peter Pan peanut butter and Donald Duck orange juice remained) to fund their projects - including the construction of Disneyland.

While this is one way to get kids to eat their veggies, even the Disney shareholders in my family are cringing. Tacky, tacky, tacky.