The “millennials suck” fest has gotten out of hand. According to the vice president of marketing and innovation at StarKist, millennials are too lazy to use a can opener. Therefore, the millennials are causing the downfall of canned tuna. Um…what?
According to a December 2nd report from The Wall Street Journal, canned tuna consumption has dropped 42% over the last thirty years. People are seemingly opting for fresher alternatives, including fresh fish, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, those within the canned tuna industry are blaming something — or someone — else.
“A lot of millennials don’t even own can openers,” Andy Mecs, the VP of marketing and innovation for StarKist, told The Journal.
Mecs and the StarKist team have been relying on the company’s pouched products to keep sales afloat, and as he told The Journal, it’s worked. Their tuna pouch sales are growing 20% annually as younger consumers opt for the more convenient tuna product.
And actually, the more we think about it, the more this shift makes sense. Millennial consumers love convenient food products. We like to throw ingredients into a bowl and call it a meal. And we will always prefer tearing off the corner of a tuna pouch to getting out the can opener and risk spilling that fishy juice.
"A lot of millennials don’t even own can openers": Tuna makers look to hook younger consumers by selling it in different ways--in pouches, with trendy flavors and as a healthy snack https://t.co/xPiT5c86KW
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 2, 2018
Plus, as The Journal reports, food-delivery apps are booming. UBS predicts that as food-delivery app popularity continues to grow, cooking at home may become obsolete.
“Online ordering has started to become the norm, thanks to the convenience, accuracy, and ability to integrate payments,” the UBS analysts reads. “At scale, ubiquitous on-demand and subscription delivery of prepared food could potentially spell the end of cooking at home.”
Loving this article? You’ll probably love this video from the So Yummy team, too. (Especially if you can appreciate a convenient meal.)
Millennial here! Here’s my can opener. Canned tuna is gross. These kind of stories are ridiculous. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
— Jordan (@jordan_j_2326) December 3, 2018
(Millennials reading this....join me and post pics of your can openers) pic.twitter.com/vY1ZI4TRwK
However, those on Twitter feel the demise of canned tuna has more to do with millennials becoming more aware of negative ethical and environmental factors at play in the harvesting of tuna rather than not owning a can opener.
Ugh, the pouches are so wasteful, and most "trendy" flavors are gross. If they want to "hook" Millennials they'll have to correct their fishing practices and their impact on the environment. It has nothing to do with young people or kitchen tools.
— Ovarian Fist (@TheLoadedPistil) December 2, 2018
If they want to get millennials hooked on tuna fish they should stop trying to get millennials hooked on tuna fish
— TYPO (@TYPOsounds) December 3, 2018
Maybe we’re just smart and know it’s terrible for the environment? I don’t know though, not a lot of data on that kind of intentional spending from this group..
— Thad (@thadbeaux) December 4, 2018
We don’t know about you guys, but we’re millennials and we own can openers. Perhaps the canned tuna industry is headed downhill for reasons other than millennial laziness.
