Over the last four or five decades, the increase in the pace of our lives has opened up a huge market, worth billions, for fast convenient foods. Unfortunately, this has brought about an increase of fat, salt, sugar and chemical additives to our diets, at the expense of good nutrition, a well-balanced diet and an increasing population that lack the skills to prepare meals from raw ingredients. The up-shot of this is the increased use of the phrase "fat nation", with children no longer interested in healthy living through a lack of sport and increased sedentary activity, such as television, only spurring on what could be a whole generation of 'couch potatoes'. Americanism has spread throughout the globe - you'll find a McDonalds in almost any nation, operating at any time. There is even a McDonalds on the Gaza strip, still in operation during and after the Hamas takeover.

The statistics back up these suggestions. In the UK, one in five people are obese (In 2001, 23 percent of women and 21 percent of men), and more than half the adult population of the UK today is either obese or overweight. Also, obesity among 6-15 year olds has trebled from 5 percent in 1990 to 16 percent in 2001. These figures are indeed daunting, however the situation is improving. People's awareness of these huge problems is on the increase. The shock tactics of programmes like the popular "Super Size Me", "You are what you Eat" and "Fat Camp', have helped to introduce statistics and visual images which discourage excessive eating. Therefore, since the 1990's, the world has been experiencing a serious crack-down on unhealthy eating. The new era of healthy eating has brought on a massive market for firms to target.

Innocent smoothies have recently experienced a rise to the top with their primary marketing strategy of being as healthy as possible. Started in 1998 by three college friends, they have been ever growing, starting from below-the-line and guerrila marketing strategies such as word of mouth, to mass above-the-line methods through their popular 'innocent ads'. Their product contains only organic fruits, straight 'from the ground to the shelves'. Their pride is in being the only smoothie markers to have absolutely fresh materials, never fruits from concentrate, and never any additives; 'nothing but nothing but fruit' (or in the case of the yoghurt drinks 'made from freshly squeezed cows'). Innocent have gained a reputation for being the most considerate company within the UK, always taking into account CO2 emissions, environmental issues and, of course, the health of the population. They also take a creative approach to recycling: the re-use of cartons and packaging for the home growing of cress. From the original notion of 'Our 100% pure fruit smoothies. No Sugar. No concentrates. No funny business' they have expanded into new markets with their yoghurt drinks, naturally flavoured water, kids' drinks and 'superfoods smoothies' made from only the healthiest raw materials they can get. They also now teach the nation how to make their own smoothies, selling recipe books and giving them away for free on their website (while 10 percent of all recipe and drink profits go towards the innocent foundation which encourages a sustainable environment).

However, Joel Bakan's film 'The Corporation' would suggest that every company maintains the single aim of maximising profit. Is this the case with Innocent? Are their completely fresh ingredients just a cunning marketing angle, utilising the issues that the world faces through unhealthy eating, for their business to receive a huge pay-off? It would appear so, after all, their incomes must have risen phenomenally, from their starting point of £300,000 revenue in their first year's takings in 1998, to their whopping £37m in 2005. They are continuing to expand through new products and the newly introduced Innocent village fetes where sales are notably boosted. Also they have shot up in market share, from nothing to around 42%, beating off competitiors who have been running for a signficantly longer period, such as PJ Smoothies with around a 25% market share. With such a high market percentage, they have very high barriers to entry. Though they don't utilise their position with predatory pricing, they rely on their customer loyalty, economies of scale and extensive advertising on television and in magazines. Research that was conducted with a random data collection strategy suggests that 65% of the population know of, and buy, smoothies, 35-40% of which recognise the Innocent smoothie brand, with 50-60% of these knowing what the Innocent company stands for, their key attributes, through their clever marketing schemes.

Every person must make their own decision on Innocent's objectives, be it healthiness and environmental consideration, or profit. Many would suggest that profit is a non-issue if it does improve the health of the nation. It is arguably acceptable that companies like Innocent reap large profits, if they are making important contributions and diverting demand away from those corportations that produce products encouraging unhealthiness in their drive for maximum profits.