The Magazine-Inspired Yogurt That Deserved To Fail
Think back to the last time you went to the grocery store. If you walked through the refrigerated section, you likely saw dozens of yogurt brands, like Yoplait, Chobani, and Dannon. In addition to different brands, there's also regular yogurt and Greek yogurt, as well as Icelandic yogurt -– which is actually just an extremely soft cheese, according to Delighted Cooking -– and non-dairy yogurts made from almonds or soy.
However, for each yogurt you see on grocery store shelves, there are probably a few more that didn't survive too long past their initial launch for one reason or another. One of these failed ventures was produced and marketed by none other than Cosmopolitan Magazine. Nothing weird about a style and beauty magazine creating its own yogurt, right? You'd think maybe devoted Cosmo readers would be interested in eating this yogurt every day, but you'd probably change your mind after we look at the rise — and subsequent fall — of Cosmopolitan yogurt.
Cosmopolitan had its own yogurt brand – but not for long
According to USA Today, Cosmopolitan Magazine launched its yogurt line in 1999, only to pull the products from stores a mere 18 months later. The line included yogurt, of course, but also other health foods like soft cheeses and fromage frais (via Marketing Week).
As you might guess, many people credit this line's demise to Cosmopolitan stepping into a market it didn't fully understand. Per Medium, Cosmopolitan targeted marketing toward its readers, rather than opening up to a broader audience. This reliance on fans of the magazine obviously wasn't going to lead to anything good, especially as readers weren't consulted on their yogurt preferences -– or if they even liked yogurt at all!
To make matters worse, Salon notes that Cosmopolitan's yogurt was more expensive than competing yogurt brands. Let's be real, people are always going to choose the inexpensive, familiar brand over the pricier, new brand, even if that brand is associated with a popular women's mag. All this just goes to say that Cosmopolitan's yogurt and cheeses were more or less doomed from the start, whether or not the actual product was any good.