Tea Industry Plays The Health Card To Woo Customers

Two cups of tea a day keeps the doctor away. And if it is increased to five or six cups, a doctor can well have a run for his money. Sounds absurd? But not after July 12. After the egg and milk cooperatives, it is the tea growers who are out to woo consumers with the health mantra.

After various attempts to increase tea consumption in India failed, tea planters are now playing the health card. Taking inspiration from recent researches by the director of American Health Foundation, John H Weisburger among others, which claim that two cups of tea a day keep diseases such as cancer at bay, the Indian Tea Association and the Consultative Committee on Plantation Associations (CCPA) have joined hands to promote the "beverage as a healthy drink".

The associations have earmarked Rs 6 crore for a six-month campaign beginning July 12 to promote tea consumption.

The campaign will highlight the generic aspects of tea and will be spread across the seven cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Bhopal.

After the six month period, market research studies will be conducted to gauge the increase in awareness amongst the consumers and based on it, a future strategy will be chalked out. "If feedback from the present target audience is good, then the campaign may be extended to more towns and cities," a CCPA official said.

He added that as a preliminary step, the CCPA in collaboration with the Tea Board will organise conferences. Later they may move to roadshows and advertisements in print and electronic media. Faced with tough competition from cold drinks and liquor, the consumption of tea has taken a beating, especially among the younger generation. To regain that ground, the campaign will concentrate on promoting tea as a "healthy drink".

The main theme of the campaign is on how tea strengthens the defence mechanism in the body by reducing the impact of oxidants. Tea is a good source of anti-oxidants and should not be avoided on health grounds. On the contrary, its intake should be enhanced, the campaign says.

A study of 1,764 people in Saudi Arabia showed tea drinkers were 19 per cent less likely to suffer from cardio-vascular disease, while another study from Moscow indicated that tea consumption was associated with lower risk of rectal cancer in women.

There was a marked reduction in blood lipid levels of those who consumed more than six cups a day, thereby reducing the chances of heart diseases, the study said.