Kellogg Rolls Out New Packaging for Blind and Visually Impaired
For millions of shoppers, NaviLens technology makes navigating the cereal aisle more accessible.
Photo courtesy of Kellogg's
Shopping for cereal at U.S. grocery stores just got easier for people who are blind or have low vision. Kellogg’s has just announced that it is launching new packaging for four of its most popular cereal brands — Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Special K Original, Rice Krispies and Crispix — that features an innovative technology for the visually impaired called NaviLens.
The front and side of cereal box will be printed with a NaviLens code, which looks kind of like a QR code but with high-contrast blocks of color set against a black background. Shoppers can use their smartphone cameras to sweep across the grocery store aisles. When their phone is pointed in the general direction of a cereal box featuring a NaviLens code, even while in motion from as far as almost 40 feet away, the NaviLens app or NaviLens GO app will offer verbal directions to help them navigate to the cereal boxes.
The voice on the apps, which are free, can also convey the product names, package sizes and nutritional information — in as many as 36 different languages.
Previously piloted on food packages and transport systems in Europe, including by Kellogg’s on cereal boxes in the U.K., the technology is being introduced in the U.S. by Kellogg’s as part of the company’s Better Days Promise “to create better days for 3 billion people by the end of 2030.” (There are an estimated nearly 12 million adults in the U.S. who are blind or have low vision, according to Kellogg’s.)
While Coca-Cola has also just rolled out NaviLens technology on its beverage packaging in the U.K., Kellogg’s says it is the first food company to introduce it in the U.S. The company is also rolling out the use of NaviLens codes in its U.S. corporate facilities in the U.S. to increase accessibility and ease of navigation for blind and low-vision employees.
“The heart of Kellogg’s Better Days Promise ESG strategy is the advancement of sustainable and equitable access to food. We work hard to think outside the box to ensure our products are accessible to as many people as possible,” Charisse Hughes, chief brand and advanced analytics officer at the Kellogg Company, says in a news release. “Thanks to the hard work of our cross-functional teams, we’re able to adapt and leverage this technology to ensure we’re living by our purpose – to create a place at the table for everyone.”
NaviLens-equipped boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Special K Original, Rice Krispies, and Crispix can be found at retailers nationwide — and you can learn more about them here.
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