Sales dip for 'unhealthy' food and drink brands

Big name food and drink brands criticised as "unhealthy" have seen a dip in sales, according to a UK report.

Top selling products including Kit Kat, Walkers Crisps, and Kellogg's Frosties have all suffered over the last 12 months according to the study in British trade magazine The Grocer.

It says British shoppers are showing signs of switching to brands which they consider better for their diet.

One of the worst affected is the controversial drink Sunny D, which saw sales drop by almost 30% in the past year, despite a £7.5m (€10.6m) relaunch designed to counter its image as high in sugar and low in juice.

The brand was worth around £150m (€213m) a year at the end of the 1990s but sales over the past year fell from £37.9m (€54m) to £26.6m (€37.9m), the report into UK's top products shows. Sunny D manufacturer Procter and Gamble, said in a statement: "The relaunch of the brand in June has shown some strong positive business results, with brand share stable or up throughout 2003."

According to the Top Products survey, Nestle Kit Kat saw sales down 9.1% from £104.8m (€149m) to £95.2m (€135m), while rival Twix fell 4.3% from £53.4m (€76.1m) to £51.1m (€72.8m). Total chocolate sales were up just 0.2% in the past year to £2.68bn (€3.8bn).

Britons spend more on crisps than all the other major European countries put together and sales went up again last year by 2.2% to just over £2bn (€2.8bn). Walkers Crisps, the country's leading brand, saw sales slide 2.1% to £510m (€727m), although its new premium range, called Sensations, moved up to third spot.

Another product attacked by campaigners in the past has been breakfast cereals which are high in sugar. The survey showed sales of Kellogg's Frosties fell 7.4% from £43.7m (€62.3m) to £40.4m (€57.6m), although Kellogg's Coco Pops were up 1.9%.

Sales of Diet Coke have overtaken the regular version for the first time. Diet Coke was worth £210m

(€299m) in the past year, up 16%, while sales of regular Coca Cola were up 4.5% to £196m

(€279.5m). Pepsi is the third biggest selling soft drink brand, worth £81.8m (€116.6m).

Mineral water has seen yet another big rise in popularity over the past 12 months - up almost 21% to £262m (€373.6m). Keith Wells, director at brand consultancy Dragon, said: "Some of the figures are surprising, particularly the dip for brands like Kit Kat, but it shows that health issues have really kicked in."

The Top Products survey looked at sales in 21 key areas over the year to October and compared the results with the same period in 2002. Kath Dalmeny, from healthy eating campaign group the Food Commission, said: "The results show that people are getting wise to what is in some of these products."