Abbott labs pushes healthier Halloween fare

Abbott Laboratories is handing out its own pediatric nutrition bars this Halloween. The goal is to provide a healthy alternative to candy, and to introduce its new product.

Chew on this: Getting kids to cut out candy on Halloween.

Sound like a crazy idea?

There's no trick involved.

In fact, it's what one Lake County company is encouraging its workers to do.

Libertyville Township-based Abbott Laboratories, which makes a line of pediatric nutrition bars, is asking its employees to promote healthier treats to children in their own families and towns this Halloween.

The pharmaceutical giant distributed 800,000 NutriPals Strawberry Fruit Bars to 34,000 employees nationwide who volunteered for the program. Some of Abbott's roughly 9,000 employees in the Chicago area will hand those out to trick-or-treaters tonight.

"My niece and nephew love these treats," said Angela Kendziora, 27, of Antioch, an Abbott employee who signed up to get the free bars. "I think it's a great idea to have kids try them, and if they like them, then their parents can buy them."

Kendziora said the bars also were a hit in her 6-year-old nephew's kindergarten class.

Employers often try to get employees to eat healthy and exercise to save on health insurance costs. Abbott's goal is to provide a healthier alternative to traditional Halloween treats and introduce its latest snack to kids, said Pam Price, pediatric nutritionist and dietitian with Abbott Nutrition.

Price said each bar contains a full serving of fruit, fiber, protein, 21 vitamins and minerals and 150 calories. It has less sugar and 70 percent less fat than a typical candy bar.

"Abbott employees are serving somewhat as ambassadors for our nutrition program and our nutrition product," Price said. "We had kids help us design it. This will give them an opportunity to taste it and let their parents know they like it."

Product sampling is a good technique, but timing it with Halloween may either be a brilliant marketing strategy or a flop, said one expert.

"In some sense, it's very smart because it gets the product into the hands of the consumer," said Sue Fogel, chairwoman of the marketing department at DePaul University's College of Commerce. "But there might be a problem with the consumer expectations associated with Halloween. (It) is a time when you get candy, and healthy and candy is sort of an oxymoron."

Fogel said parents would probably love the idea, but she's not sure how kids will react.

"It is an opportunity for the kids to try it, but it's going to be in the midst of all this truly sugary stuff and it may suffer in contrast," she said.

But it may work, she said.