GNC Flexes For A Female Market

General Nutrition Centers (GNC) has always sold mainstream nutrition products. But the retail chain is better known for its protein-packing, body-shaping supplements, a mostly masculine domain.

Now, a new GNC ad campaign promises something for the ladies: a product line called WELLbeING, whose names all begin with the verb “be”: be-Refreshed, be-Wholesome, be-Hot. They may sound like daily-affirmation reminders rather than actual supplements, yet GNC is banking on them to tap a market currently serviced by Bath & Body Works and the Body Shop – part of the category I call “mall stores my wife shops at while I kill time at Game Stop.”Continue reading...