DHA Omega-3s (to fuel your brain) | 14g Protein (Grass-fed whey) | 5g Sugar
Net carbs: 15 g Added sugars: 4 g
Overall rating: 🤬🙄
Flavor
Not much. Maybe I’m jaded because this is the 3rd bar I’ve tried today but it took about 7 seconds for me to perceive any chocolate flavor (and that’s about 6.5 seconds too long).
There’s a certain unique undertone that must come from the fish oil. It’s not present in other products and gives a core roundness to the flavor.
This is not great, though. The flavor is half Thin Mint girl scout cookie and half waxed cardboard from your local produce stand.
Packaging appeal
Oatmega has used many style choices common to the “healthy” energy bar market while also creating a unique vibrant look. The hand-drawn chocolates and mint leaves create a feeling of homemade care, while the color palette and font choices give it a certain zesty energy.
This is the most boring, derivative packaging copy I’ve ever seen, though. It’s a lot like the copy I wrote recently for another completely different natural food product.
All of these people make the exact claims with the same bland tone because they’re all trying to act like being healthy and natural is innovative. But this category is overcrowded with people who make candy bars that look healthy, even though they’re just getting us addicted to different more natural sweeteners.
When you see the words, “crafted the perfect balance of…” this means they have a similar product to everything else in the category and are desperate to differentiate themselves.
Honestly, I think making a specific nutrient the cornerstone of your brand marketing is a huge strategic error. You pigeonhole yourself from the get-go and have no potential appeal with people who don’t care about your chosen nutrient.
It’s also hypocritical to market your product as giving you a “strong brain, strong body, strong life” when the sugar and carbs in this bar will contribute to brain fog and inflammation.
Ingredient quality
Overall, not bad.
For an oat-based protein bar, one would assume that protein and oats are the top ingredients. And here that is the case. Protein, chicory root, and oats are the first three ingredients.
Fish oil is kinda weird, but I like that. Fish oil is one of the best sources of Omega-3’s and theirs is “responsibly caught” (whatever that means.) Oats are better than wheat flour because they’re gluten-free and have a low glycemic index.
The problem ingredients here are the sugar and tapioca syrup. I’m against adding any sugars or syrups into food. Tapioca syrup isn’t as bad as corn syrup, but that isn’t saying much. They’re both sugar slime people add to get us addicted to their products.
Oatmega does have a lot of protein given its small size, though. Lenny & Larry’s protein cookies are more than twice as big but only have 2 more grams of protein.
Company practices
This is another fake healthy virtue-signaling company. “Grass-fed”, “responsibly harvested”, “perfect balance of flavor and nutrients” are all virtue-based marketing language.
Oatmega gets an instant angry face, though, because they have a kids version of their bars. With the same sweeteners, these are candy bars pretending to be healthy. That is my least favorite food category. Shit like this is why we have a childhood obesity problem.
You can’t dress candy up in healthy packaging and marketing language, get kids hooked on it, and consider yourself a good company.
By marketing these fake healthy products directly to kids, companies like Oatmega reinforce cycles of bad health and misinformation. They take advantage of people’s desire for healthy food options and sell them addictive products that counteract health goals.
Snackability
These are a good small, snackable size. You could fit them in most pockets, backpacks, or lunchboxes.
Most people could finish this without too much trouble, which is a common complaint people have about other larger energy bars.
I’m not a fan of only having one thing in each wrapper, though. Dirtballs come in 7-packs for more flexible snackage, and I think other companies should do the same thing.
Overall, Oatmega 3 bars get a rating of 🤬🙄
They have bad ingredients and are overall a boring unexceptional brand.