It's Only Natural: Challenges and Strategies for Selling the USDA Organic Seal

Abstract

In October, 2002, the USDA established national criteria to define organic food certification standards. This national certification program was implemented in an effort to provide consumers with a coherent set of guidelines to inform their purchasing decisions. When the program was implemented in 2001, some effort was made to promote the seal through producers and retail chains, but there was never a national campaign made to promote the new label, and as such, the seal has faded into relative insignificance. By neglecting to promote the seal when inaugurated, the organic foods industry missed out on a substantial opportunity to promote awareness of the organic foods industry as a whole. . . . This project seeks to determine consumer attitudes towards organic foods, and assess the ways in which the USDA Organic seal might be marketed so as to extend awareness of the label to mass-market consumers. This campaign will present organic not simply as a method of food production, but rather as a means to depict a lifestyle aesthetic of comfort, elegance, and consummate good taste. [From introductory section]