What will be Paul Newman’s legacy? Will it be the late actor’s performances in Cool Hand Luke or The Sting? His multiple road-racing championships? This? Or will it be Newman’s Own, his charity-oriented line of salad dressings and tomato sauces? Well, just don’t ask millennials, ‘cause they have no fucking clue who the dude is.
According to The New York Times, Newman’s Own is having trouble communicating its charitable message to our nation’s young’uns. See, Newman’s Own donates all of its post-tax profits and royalties to charity, with donations totaling more than $400 million since 1982. They make that clear on the bottle, but, according to Bruce Bruemmer, vice president of marketing for Newman’s Own, “they only see Paul’s face.” And, in 2016 at least, that face ain’t selling no dressing.
“A lot of people, particularly older generations, just understood this is what Newman’s Own always did,” says Robert Forrester, chief executive of the Newman’s Own Foundation. “It was this younger consumer that, frankly, we were overlooking.”
And this younger consumer, according to studies, is more likely to support a product if they feel it has a social conscience. In response, the company is not recasting Newman’s grinning mug, but he has been reduced from star to supporting player. Now the bottles will emphasize its “All Profits to Charity” banner, which will now read “100 Percent Profits to Charity.” (It might also help to put the word “lit” on there somewhere.)
Newman’s Own is also branching out to social media, where millennials are rumored to roam, with a number of videos that “highlight a few of the 600 charities the company works with each year.” Why not toss in a highlight reel of Newman’s best performances?
Better yet, just blast out this primer we wrote:
The bae Newman was a 10/10 perf actor who won an Oscar in 1986 for v good The Color of Money. He was also hot af throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s in films like The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, and The Sting. He chilled from Hollywood a bit in the ‘90s to dab on racecars and salad dressing, but eventually got JOMO and returned to movies now and then. He was also in Cars.