Turkey and crackers have become an overnight sensation. This is due to the launch of Lunchly, a new product created by three influencers. On Sept. 16, Logan Paul, KSI (Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji), and Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) introduced Lunchly as a competitor to Lunchables, a meal marketed towards kids by Oscar Mayer, a subsidiary of Kraft Heinz.
Inside the Lunchly product, there are three distinct items, a Prime drink, a small Feastables bar and a meal item. The meal is either small tortilla chips with queso blanco and salsa, ham and cheese with crackers, or a small build-your-own pizza with shredded mozzarella cheese, a pizza crust, pepperoni slices and marinara sauce.
Both are designed as a cheap and easy way for kids to eat a quick nutritious lunch, as they both have protein and carbohydrates usually in some form of bread, meat or dairy. Despite both offering the same product, Logan Paul and KSI included their electrolyte drink, Prime, while Mr. Beast added his candy bar, Feastables to Lunchly contributing to the product’s rise in popularity. Benefitting from better promotion and multiple celebrity endorsements, Lunchly misleads people into assuming this product is superior despite not offering any real difference from its competitors.
In the first video promoting Lunchly, the influencers waste no time comparing Prime, Logan Paul and KSI’s drink to Capri Sun found in the standard Lunchable. Not even five seconds later, Mr. Beast starts to endorse his product, Feastables, which is a competitor to the Crunch candy bar. He claimed that the Feastables are more natural and better for consumers when compared to the Crunch bar. After all three creators endorsed their products, they began to compare the ingredients between Lunchly and Lunchables. Despite being very similar, the influencers continue spreading the idea that Lunchly uses better ingredients that make it more nutritious than Lunchables. It’s disappointing to see influencers describing Lunchly as a better choice when it’s just a rebranded version of Luncahbles with minimal nutrition differences.
While Prime does have fewer calories and sugar content than Capri Sun, it could be said that Prime is a better product. Although this does make Prime seem healthier on the surface, it is known that Prime has many chemicals in it which is very noticeable. No matter what flavor I try, it always has a chemical aftertaste, while Capri Sun tasted more natural, due to it having real juice. Although it can be said that Prime has more benefits than Capri Sun, the chemicals used in this product counter that claim.
Furthermore, after trying both Feastables and Crunch, I found out that they are actually very similar, though there are some differences in the taste. The only significant difference, I noticed is the marketing. Mr. Beast has made several videos promoting the product, while there are not that many Crunch commercials that show up on social media. The better marketing and branding done for Feastables is just another strategy used by many businesses to make a product seem better than others though being exactly the same. No matter what, they are both just standard chocolate bars in the end.
In more recent news, collaboration videos with Jake Paul, Logan Paul’s younger brother, and “The Rizzler,” a new celebrity on TikTok have been made, where they just praise Lunchly, which is very similar to the original commercial. The original trio also filmed themselves hanging from a rope on a rooftop while promoting the “benefits” of Lunchly. These videos go viral and get spread throughout TikTok, people begin to talk about, imitate, or edit the videos and post them again. This essentially makes Lunchly a new trend, From what I’ve seen, these videos were made to gain attention and be trendy instead of calling attention to an actually good product.
Though I understand the appeal of Lunchly, it’s still the same product as Lunchables. Endorsement from any influencers can’t make Lunchly seem unique. Children are not buying Lunchly for the minor benefits. They are being lured by celebrity endorsements, believing the product would make them cooler. Instead of being a genuinely good product, celebrities have turned a simple lunch into a popularity contest. The success of Lunchly demonstrates how in today’s market, branding is much more important to consumers than an actual quality product.
by SIMON ARAGOZA
