Del Monte introduces new online, print ad campaign for fruit products

SAN FRANCISCO Major food producer and distributor Del Monte Foods is spending $20 million on a new, comical, online and print ad campaign for its fruit products. The campaign, called “Fruit Undressed,” involves online banners on sites like Realsimple.com and People.com, portraying talking fruit that peels back its skin and says things like, “Does this skin make my butt look big?”

Smith Brothers Agency in Pittsburgh created the ads for Del Monte’s peeled and sliced fruit items, which are available in four different varieties: SunFresh, Orchard Select fruit jars, citrus bowls and Fruit Naturals fruit cups. Newly released, antioxidant-packed, 8-ounce fruit cups are filled with acai and passion fruit juices, such as pear chunks in acai blackberry juice and mixed fruit chunks in mango passion fruit juice.

Though the company normally spends less than $5 million on advertising for these products, Rodolfo Spielmann, vice president of consumer growth at Del Monte Foods, believed the increase in spending was necessary to spread word of the brand.