Light Is Lively

What can be poured, shaken, heated, brewed--and helps to prolong youth, maintain beauty and promote health? What, in short, is one of the hottest words in marketing today? Anything with light or lite on the label. And the use of that designation is getting rather heavyhanded.

For calorie watchers, there are light canned fruits, light pancake syrups, light cheeses and light wines. Wish-Bone has a Lite salad dressing, Ronzoni a Lite 'n' Natural spaghetti sauce, Frito-Lay its Fritos Lights and Doritos Crispy Lights. H.J. Heinz is testing a Lite ketchup. Anheuser-Busch has Natural Light and is launching Bud Light to compete with Miller Lite.

Light is also used to describe products that are low in almost anything undesirable. There are light cigarettes with little tar. Morton has Lite salt, which has less sodium than ordinary salt. Lite coffee from Manor House has less caffeine.

The magic word light, though, is not always a guarantee of success. Last year Campbell withdrew its line of soups, the Lite Ones, after two years of light sales.

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