MM-2 Maggi Interview

- Anirudh Agarwal 0054/58 Sec-A

Interviewer: Hello, Welcome, Kartik. Thank you for giving time for this interview. Before I start, I
would formally like to ask for consent regarding the recording of this interview?

Respondent: Yes, no problem. Thank you for inviting me.

Interviewer: So, before we start, can you please tell me about yourself briefly? Your upbringing,
family, friends, preferences, etc.?

Respondent: Yes, definitely. So my name is Kartik. I'm presently a software developer working at
Microsoft. I am a resident of Noida for the past 15 years and have done my UG in Computer Science
from Thapar University. I'm 23 years old, and have been leveraging the work from home opportunity
to the fullest extent by spending time with my family and hanging with my close school/childhood
friends. My father is a nuclear scientist working at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, and
my mother is a housemaker but Post-graduate in ecomonics and uses her time and intellect to invest
in stock markets. I have an elder brother, who recently graduated from IIM Ahmedabad, and is now
working as an associate consultant at Bain and Company.

My friend circle comprises of my friends from school actually, we spent 10 years in school together
and have been very closely knit since. Since, most of us still live in vicinities of each other, it is easier
to hang out and spend time with them.

My interests typically involve sports of all kind/nature. From badminton to F1 to football to chess, I
play anything there ever has been or will be.

Interviewer: Do you consider yourself a conservative/traditional person or a modern/liberal person

as far as your values are concerned? Can you elaborate on the same

Respondent: The honest answer is that it depends, from case to case and situation to situation. I do
see myself as a liberal person wanting free rights to freedom, expression, liberated from scoeities's
chain of thought but at the same time, I do myself adopting conservational/traditional approach and
thinking when thinking about finances/future career/opportunities etc. I like to see myself as a
forever curious personality wanting to learn/understand more and more freely without any
inhibitions or hurdles.

Interviewer: What are the customary/ritualistic practices you follow in your daily life? Can you
elaborate on the same?

Respondent: Its hard to think of some rituals I do daily. Given the pandemic and freedom of working
from home, and thanks to Microsoft's work flexibility, I don't find myself adopting any particular
routine. But, I do take out time to play football now and then, and have some social media rituals
wrt to scrolling and twitter and news etc.

Interviewer: How often do you shop? Especially grocery, food, personal care items ?

Respondent: I shop quite frequently. Infact, ever since covid, and rise of e-commerce, I have been
solely ordering al house purchases from ghee/dal/atta to packaged products like chips/namkeen and
all other personal and daily care items. I would say I place an online order for some food product or
order every 4 days.
Interviewer: 5. What do you look at when you buy these things? (brands, utility, price, availability,
etc.)

Respondent: Depends on use case, since by now my needs and choices are already very well defined.
My biggest driver is price. Lower the price invites better chances of purchase in food categories given
some standard brand trust. At the same time, regarding some personal care purchases, the driver is
still quality over price given the importance need of the product.

Interviewer: How carefully or not do you check for ingredients? Does the behavior vary across
products? What are the types of products where you are extra careful about the ingredients?

Respondent: More often than not, I do not check for ingredients. If im making a junk purchase, I
know its going to be unhealthy, but I don't mind it, since its purpose is for recreation and depending
on the mood. If it's a healthy purchase, I like to keep an inherent trust with the band that the
product sold is genuine and without adulteration. I'm generally more careful regarding personal care
products while checking for ingredients and its use cases.

Interviewer: What are the typical snacks that you and your family consume? Especially a typical
evening snack which is convenient to make?

Respondent: My family consumes all kind of snacks. All namkeens/papad/chai snacks and even
snacking food like popcorn/makhana/mathri etc etc. Typically our evening snacks are garlic bread or
something namkeen to go with milk/tea.

Interviewer: Do you make these snacks at your home or buy them from the shops? Can you
elaborate on the type of snacks that you make and that you buy

Respondent: Yeah sure. Like I mentioned, if its something popcorn/makhana, we buy from outside
and roast at home, otherwise we eat readymade namkeen and related snacks. For homemade, my
mother makes namkeen from all different ingredients chana,corn flakes, moody etc or we simply eat
roasted bread or garlic bread/noodles as snacks.

Interviewer: How often do you make noodles as a snack? What are the typical noodles brands that
you buy?

Respondent: I would say frequently. Given its comfort and taste and ease of making, it makes for a
perfec night-time snack especially when I'm working late. So I eat like once a week easily.

Regarding the brands, I prefer atta noodles over traditional given my sensitiivyt towards all maida
products. And I buy products from all companies, nestle/Patanjali/yippee/wai wai etc

Interviewer: Who prefers noodles the most in your family? Why do they do so?

Respondent: Given that I'm the youngest, I'm the most frequent snacker of noodles actually. No
particular reason for this, it's a comfort food, easy to make, tastes good and it even cheap for regular
consumption. Hits all points basically

Interviewer: Do you think noodles are healthy? If so, why or why not? What do you do to make them
healthy? (Do they add vegetables or something else?)

Respondent: I don't believe noodles are healthy. That's not the purpose or inclination when Im
eating them. Like I said, comfort food and easy to make. At the same time, I like to believe that
certain food standards must be maintained for every snack that is being consumed by the public.
Interviewer: 12. Do you use Maggi noodles ? If yes, how long have you been using them?

Respondent: Yes, definitely. For as long as I can remember. If something is aying something else,
they are lying. They are my go-to brand in noodles given their legendary brand status.

Interviewer: What are the various other products of the Nestle and Maggi brand you use? Could you
explain why you use those products?

Respondent: Im well aware of other Nestle and maggi products especially, coffee, chocolates and
maggi masala. But, im not a frequent user of any of them. IT has nothing to do with the brand, im
just not a fan of these particular products coffee, chocolate etc.

Interviewer: 14. Would you refer Maggi products to your friends/family?

Respondent: Yes, most definitely. It would actually be rare tp find someone who hasn't heard of
Maggi or eaten the product, But, yest most definitely it would be my recommendation.

Interviewer: What kind of imagery does Maggi represent for you? As soon as you think of Maggi
what image comes to your mind?

Respondent: Maggi on some level represents my childhood, when there were little to no out of
home dinners and junk opportunities, Maggi was the go-to snack for every Indian kid, and it taste is
not just a taste but an emotion is a sense. Maggi reminds of the time, when you don't want to eat
home-made green stuff, Maggi was the way out that you could even make alone without your
mother;s help.

Interviewer: If I have to ask you to associate the Maggi brand to a character, the character can be
anyone, a person, a movie/cartoon character or anything else, what will you associate it with? Why?

Respondent: I'll have to think on this, 1 character that I would associate…I don't know hy but bigs
bunny comes into my head, maybe because of its connecion to my childhood. I don't see any
particular reason for it, bugs bunny just came in my head.

Interviewer: How would you describe a typical Maggi consumer? (What are some of the features the
interviewee would associate for a Maggi consumer?

Respondent: Everyone eats maggi, so hard to make a typical maggi consumer, But, generally the
deomographic is skewed on the younger side only. Age 5-30 max.

Interviewer: Do you remember the reason why Maggi was banned in 2014?

Respondent: Yeah, it had something to do with lead content. It exceeded the limit and thus was
banned by the Food authority of India.

Interviewer: Yes, Do you think Maggi betrayed its consumers by giving adulterated stuff?

Respondent: Hmm. It can be said as a betrayal of consumer trust by selling unhealthy products
beyonf the given limit, but at the same time I think that it inherently is an unhealthy product, and
people should be aware of it. But, going beying the required guidelines from food authorities is
definitely unethical.

Interviewer: Why do you think Maggi was allowed to come back again?
Respondent: It must have made adjustments to the product and got re-approvals from the
authorities to re-sell their product and thus were allowed to come back.

Interviewer: Have you forgiven Maggi for the misdemeanour/betrayal? If so, why or why not?

Respondent: I have never thought about it. I never took it personally. Maggi was selling its food, and
in order to make it tastier/better I did some adulteration which was unethical. It has now rectifeide
that problem and thus is back, so essence it is not about me forgiving it or not, but it just following
the practices now. It learn from its mistakes and I expect it to not make tha mistake again. Second
chance can and should be given in this case.

Interviewer: Were you consuming noodles when the Maggi ban was in place from 2014 to 2017?
What brands were you consuming at that time?

Respondent: Yes, I was. Maggi is a avery stable product and its comfort in making and taste is
unparallel. At the same time, my loyalty was not stuck to nestle but for my love for maggi/2-minute
noodles as a snack. So I did eat maggi from other brands, wai-wai/sunfeast etc

Interviewer: Do you remember the "bring back Maggi" campaign?

Respondent: No, I am not aware of it actually.

Interviewer: Maggi essentially made it's consumers to post their maggi stories with the hashtag
"bring back Maggi" on social media. What do you think about the campaign?

Respondent: Hmm.. Maggi as a brand name has been very huge, but I don't how I feel about this.
Without the regulatory approval from Food authorities, these marketing campaignms wont make
any sense unless they were made to build pressure and hasten the process of reapproval. Otherwise
they don't make much sense in my opinion

Interviewer: Do you think Maggi has made amends to its noodles or still they are using adulterated
products? Why do you think consumers have forgiven Maggi so easily?

Respondent: Maggi definitely has amended its product to fit into regulatory standards. At the same
time, I do believe product inherently is unhealthy for it to be consumed very frequently by public.
The customers as far as I think, don't value adulteration aspect of maggi highly. Its fondness os more
related to its ease, emotion attached and taste rather than health benefits.

Interviewer: Do you still have problems with the Maggi brand? If so, what can Maggi do to make you
reconcile with it and forgive the brand?

Respondent: I don't have any problems with the Maggi brand, as long as they fit in regulation
standards and give the quality taste product that they always have

Interviewer: If they are not going to forgive Maggi for this mistake, Would you have forgiven any
other brand if they had done the same? Why?

Respondent: Maggi as a brand has createn a legacy and trust for a long time. TO replicate same with
a new brand of same product is impossible. Example: All ramen noodles are called essentially maggi,
where maggi is a brand name and not the actual name of the product. For a new brand to make this
mistake would be detrimental as they don't enjoy the same privilege maggi does.

Interviewer: Have you heard about Patanjali noodles? Have you ever bought them? What's your
opinion about the brand?
Respondent: Yes, I have. And I'm a consumer too. My major attraction was its atta noodles and 0
Maida marketing of the product. Maggi has its own atta noodles, but its taste and feel wasn't
replicated as of original Maggi brand

Interviewer: Do you watch Maggi advertisements on television? What do you think is unique or
different about their ads?

Respondent: Yes, I do. Most unique quality about maggi ads is its ability to invoke those feelings of a
child that I used to have before eating Maggi. That time and feeling, being invoked by an ad is rare
and can only be achieved by legacy brands like maggi

Interviewer: Do you think the MNCs (here Nestle) are the ones which are pushing sub-par or
adulterated products on the Indian consumers? If so, why?

Respondent: To call Maggi sub-par would be unfair, but for conglomerates to push adulterated
products for higher profits is definitely an issue and I think it might be true even today. They do it
because simply they can do it. They are at apposition of leverage compared to other brands and can
leverage it to a maximum limit to get those desired profits by hook or crook.

Interviewer: What can you do as a consumer to prevent further mishaps like the Maggi mishap?
What should governments and other organisations do? Can you elaborate on this

Respondent: Food authorities must be stricter on their guidelines/standards and approach and
strictness towards violation of these standards. This is a must, and there must be strict repurcussions
for violation. From a consumer standpoint, we need to be more aware of the product we are
consuming, and do not keep such companies on pedestal, and with the social media power
nowadays be more vocal and active against them in event of violation of any standards or ethics.

Interviewer: All right. That will be sufficient. Thank you so much for taking your time out today.

Respondent: Thanks Anirudh. Pleasure.