SYDNEY — What do you get when you take an iconic food product, change its ingredients and release it under a kitschy new name, prompting cries of outrage and a storm of media coverage: A marketing failure or a publicity coup? Skip to next paragraph Kraft Foods/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Kraft originally chose the name iSnack2.0 from almost 50,000 entries in a competition to name its new Vegemite product, but then bowed to public anger and agreed to call the product Cheesybite. The executives at Kraft Foods Australia, the company that makes Vegemite — the salty, gooey yeast paste beloved by millions of Australians — are still awaiting the answer to that question after a recent experiment with the country’s most recognized food product went awry.
- Joe Fullman