How does Beneful have so many people fooled?
Is it the pretty TV commercials? The pretty bag?
What the front of the bag says doesn’t match what the back of the bag (the ingredients) says. Beneful has a lot of fillers, byproducts, and artificial dyes. And also has very low meat content.
Here is an analysis of the ingredients in Beneful: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=69&cat=all
And here is a website that shows how to interpret the ingredients: http://www.dogfoodproject.com/
Tagged with: amp • artificial dyes • byproducts • Dog Food • food reviews • google • meat content • script type • text javascript • tv commercials
Filed under: Pet Supplies
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
my dog hates it and wont eat it dont have her fooled LOL
It is called MARKETING.
It’s cheap and people have no sense. Anyone who’d actually feed that doesn’t deserve to own a dog.
The advertisements… I guess they have good ones, but why do you think they have us fooled?
o its both. its also because of the cute little dogs on the front of the bag. so many people r having so much fun looking at the front of the bag that they think "awww what a cute puppy i think i will buy this food because it has a cute puppy on it" but they forget to read the ingredients
EDIT: and dont forget pedigree, now because their commercials say "really good food for dogs" people are actually believing them
People are stupid. Just take a look around here.
Actually, yes, i believe it’s advertising, price, and availability. It’s also a lack of education. People just don’t know that they are bad foods, and they don’t care to do the research.
LOL… I agree, the food is horrible… It has soooo many harsh chemicals and fillers… My dog eats Newman’s Own Organic Advanced Formula –Great food!!
Between the insane amount they spend on advertising and the fact that they buy the high profile spots at the grocery store where the average lazy american is doing their own food shopping (convenience is everything right?); it’s bound to be a top seller.
yeah!!!! it even fooled my mom!
Pretty bag, food looks yummy, but full of fillers. My dogs won’t touch it.
We feed premium dog food not sold at Pet smart.
We live in a Fast Food nation. We want our food quick and cheap. We want convenience over quality. It’s sad but true.
I don’t fuel my body this way, and I certainly wouldn’t fuel my dogs this way.
ha ha, it is the commercials i think.
The wet food, how it looks like well, beef stew or what not, it fools people who won’t even read the labels on their own food, let alone their pet food. They hear, real meat, veggies milk and whole grains, and they think-hey, great!
Marketing
Beneful and Purina (and Iams, Eukanuba, etc) sell product through clever marketing – you see a cute healthy dog (who’s well behaved) next to a food product doctored to look appealing and you want the same for your dog…The packaging is pretty and the ads make it sound like the manufactors care about your dog…it’s the same reason that people buy jello after watching cute kids play with their food…
Now if only they put the same resources into the food that they put into advertising…
Think it’s the cute, fake shapes the stuff comes in – made to look like veggies, meat, etc. when it is really mostly corn and artificial coloring – not good nourishment for dogs.
I wouldn’t say that people are stupid for buying it, but uneducated about dog food. One of the things in classes was I would have everyone go get their brand of dog food, and I would sit and go over what was in their bags. Changed alot of people’s mind about what they were feeding. On the wrong food it can cause health problems as well as behavior problems. Had a student whos labs were on Kibbles and Bits. They were the most hyper dogs and the owners said that the dogs wouldn’t listen to them. Yeah, because they were so on a sugar high from the food. They switched food and what a big difference it made for the dogs. Everyone was happier for it.
Great tv. commercials, good slogans, pretty bag (with carrots and green beans on it, neither of which are in the ingredients), convenience, cost and not knowing any better… If you’ve been told how nasty a dog food is and that there are better options, and you continue to feed your dogs nasty food… You don’t deserve a dog.
lilpurpledog: Here is the ingredient list
Ground yellow corn * (a filler, not nutritional for dogs, they cannot digest it, it just fills them up without them getting anything out of it, makes them poop more and is a common allergen for most dogs)
chicken by-product meal* (by product means all the stuff left over from the butchering of OUR food, heads, feet, intestines bones, dead chickens)
corn gluten meal* (more corn broken down so it looks like another ingredient)
whole wheat flour*(another filler indigestible to dogs)
animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols(no name animals, can be anything, from dead cows that died before butchering, dead chickens, roadkill, euthanized pets…. It is all boiled down, and then spun in a centrifuge, the fat rises to the top and is scraped off and added to dog food, this is the film you see in the top of canned dog food) (form of Vitamin E)
rice flour(filler)
beef (waaaay down her on the ingredient list)
soy flour (soy is another filler, it is not nutritional for dogs and has been linked to bloat and other medical issues)
sugar (something to make it more palatable so they will eat it, not healthy)
sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, salt, phosphoric acid (actually I’m not sure what any of that crap is, which would make me not want to feed it to my dogs)
animal digest (poop/innards)
potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate
sorbic acid (a preservative) (chemical preservatives are not conducive to good health in dogs, my dogs food has no preservatives, it is vacuum sealed to keep it fresh as long as possible, but will go bad if on the shelf too long, beneful can be several years old before you buy the bag)
L-Lysine monohydrochloride
dried peas, dried carrots (like beef, WAAAAY down on the ingredient list)
calcium carbonate, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride,
added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), (more chemicals designed to make it prettier and more palatable)
There are too many friggin chemicals in this, I’m not even sure what all of it is… I see some supplements, but if you feed a quality diet, you don’t NEED supplements.
DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Vitamin A supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, copper sulfate, biotin, garlic oil, thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.
Here is a link to help you decipher dog food ingredients and why you should read the labels.
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=betterproducts
A reason why you can and should spend the extra money / bag..
http://spear-barkennels.com/Feeding.php
And a list of dog foods rated by quality… 4star and higher are decent 5 & 6 stars are best…
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
Do your research and I bet you’ll switch foods.
Here’s what most people see…it makes it SOUND like a great diet:
*Moist, chewy chunks made with real beef are rich in quality protein to help build strong muscles.
*Contains vegetables with Vitamin A and other important vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
*Crunchy corn packed with carbohydrates for energy and linoleic acid for a shiny coat.
*Enriched with calcium for healthy teeth and strong bones.
*Omega fatty acids, along with antioxidants like Vitamin E and selenium, help support a healthy immune system.
*Contains iron for healthy blood.
Here’s what the facts are:
INGREDIENTS
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, salt, phosphoric acid, animal digest, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium carbonate, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Vitamin A supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, copper sulfate, biotin, garlic oil, thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.
ANIMAL DIGEST? It turns my stomach imagining what THAT is!
How many people actually read the label and know what it means? Not many. They don’t realize that the food is made by the same company that brings us Kit Kat, Butterfinger, Chocolate Chips, Rolo, Smarties, and the Wonka line of candies…Would anyone feed their dogs that stuff? I wouldn’t trust them to tell me what’s healthy, people should be more aware of the difference between ad copy and ingredients.
EDIT: to the person who asked about the lamb & rice: the good news is that it is healthier than the dry versions…here’s the bad news: Its main ingredient is wheat gluten. My understanding is that gluten is the part of the grain that is leftover after being processed many times (I believe 7 times…this information came from my friend at a local health food store). Each consecutive time it is processed, it removes the healthiest remaining part of the grain. By the end, you end up with something I consider to be basically worthless. Many people believe dogs should all eat grain free diets, I don’t agree-but I DO think that if there is grain in the food it should not be the primary ingredient, and it SHOULD be in whole-grain form. Grains should only be fed to dogs that can tolerate them, many are allergic, but corn is a legitimate source of carbs (unfortunately, it’s a leading allergen for dogs-even I am allergic to corn). The food contains more meat by-products (from unidentified meats) than lamb…that should get your imagination going as to where these meats come from (and if you’re stomach is turning thinking about it, you’re on the right track!). It contains artificial flavors (and the dry even contains artificial dyes…they are allergens and unnecessary chemicals that can cause harm.)
All the ads, commercials, the labels, the pretty bag. They all make the food sound like it is best food in the world.
Really it has a lot of fillers and dyes in it!!!
Oh Abby … you know … people are easily fooled about all sorts of stuff… they think it is okay to buy dogs from pet stores, to feed the latest marketed food, to make puppies without having a clue … just easy to fool
Haha, I remember seeing the commericial and I thought – "Wow, that looks like a good food!"
Just because it had pretty veggies and meat, it made it sound like it was really healthy. Well, when I got to PetSmart, I read the back of the label. No meat! What the !?!?
Only nasty meat by-product, lots of corn, and lots of chemicals!
Ewwww.
1) Great advertising campaign.
2) Brightly colored packaging with ‘nifty’ designs.
3) Beneful used to have ‘vet recommended’ on the front I don’t know if it still does however, people see those two words and automatically turn stupid.