Go-Gurt

Go-Gurt (stylized as Go-GURT), also known as Yoplait Tubes in Canada and as Frubes in the UK and Ireland, is an American brand of low-fat yogurt for children. It can be sucked out of a tube, instead of being eaten with a spoon. It was introduced by the General Mills-licensed brand Yoplait in 1997, as the first yogurt made specifically for children.

Background

Go-Gurt grew out of a late 1990s General Mills project to launch a product called "Fun Cone", with yogurt into a cone-shape package. That project evolved from a cone to yogurt in a flexible plastic tube when a new packaging machine enabled a three-side-sealed tube. This tube is more comfortable in the mouth than four-side-sealed tubes. Don Messer (Packaging Scientist), Scott Gillespie (Packaging Engineer) and Lisa Pannell (Product Development Scientist) led the launch of Go-Gurt in 1998.[1][2]

Stephen Kaufman of Green Bay, WI, a food scientist, and Jim McGuire, a research and development technician, were credited with the invention while working for General Mills in the late 1980s. Kaufman came up with the idea while he was browsing a women's magazine and saw shampoo sample inserts.[3] Kaufman told the Minneapolis–Saint Paul magazine City Pages that the original conception was for the yogurt to be firm, so the tube would stand straight up—like an ice pop—but when that didn't work out, they shifted toward a creamy yogurt.

This early idea faced internal opposition at General Mills. Kaufman used hotel shampoo pouches as an inspiration to create prototypes of Go-Gurt, which he made himself on a personal-care product pouching machine he rented, to convince General Mills engineers of the idea's worthiness.[3]

Go-Gurt became a side option in McDonald's Happy Meals in 2014 in strawberry flavor.[4]

Anthropologist Susan Squires claims that her ethnographic research in U.S. American families led her client to the development of Go-Gurt.[5]

Sub-brands

In June 2006, frubes Fizzix, a carbonated yogurt snack, was released under the Yoplait brand. This "sparkling yogurt" was originally developed by Lynn Ogden, a professor in the College of Life Sciences at Brigham Young University (BYU), in 1983. Ogden obtained a patent in 1997 and finally found an interested licensor at General Mills in 2006. BYU receives 55% of the royalties, which will go toward BYU's mentoring program and research, while Ogden receives the rest.[6][7] Fizzix was available in six flavors, but appears to have been discontinued.[8]

In 2005, frubes Smoothie, a drinkable yogurt for children was released.[9] The product currently comes in four flavors: Strawberry Splash, Paradise Punch, Mango Blast, and Wild Berry.[10]

Internationally

Outside of the U.S., Go-Gurt is sold as "Yoplait Tubes" in Canada, as "Frubes" in the United Kingdom (previously as a sub-brand of Petit Filous), and was also sold in Japan as "グルト" ("Guruto"). The name was a play on words, as it evoked the sound of gulping a liquid and incorporated part of the Japanese transliteration of yogurt, ヨーグルト (Yo-Guruto). Go-Gurt is also available in Australia where they are known as "Yoplait Go-GURT" or simply "Go-GURT". There is also another brand available in Australia, known as "Yoplait Smackers," aimed at young girls.[11][12][13][14]

Flavors

Generally, each box comes with two different flavors.[15]

Single-flavor boxes include:

• Berry / Cherry
• Fruit Punch / Strawberry-Banana (Canada)
• Melon Berry / Cotton Candy
• Peach / Blueberry (Canada)
• Raspberry / Grape (Canada)
• Strawberry Splash / Berry Blue Blast
• Strawberry / Cherry (Canada)
• Strawberry / Cotton Candy
• Strawberry / Mixed Berry
• Strawberry / Punch
• Strawberry / Vanilla

Marketing

On August 1, 2017, Go-Gurt launched a new campaign titled Kids Never Had It So Easy. The campaign features two "grumpy old fourth graders" bemoaning how easy kids—meaning third graders—have it today.[17]

External links

• Frubes website (UK) @frubes.co.uk
• Frubes page on Yoplait UK website @yoplait.co.uk
• Go-GURT website (USA) @gogurt.com
• Official Australian Go-Gurt site @gogurt.com.au
• Yoplait Tubes website (Canada) @yoplait.ca