SpongeBob spinach and Winnie the Pooh apples are just a couple of the newly licensed cartoon characters to sell fresh fruit and vegetables to kids. 

It makes me wonder why more healthy foods don't use modern-day marketing tactics.

Disney just struck a deal with Imagination Farms, and soon, we'll find produce aisles filled with Winnie the Pooh organic apples, peaches stamped with Goofy and Daisy Duck stickers and grapes in colorful Mickey Mouse boxes.

Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Nickelodeon are doing the same, with Tasmanian Devil apples, SpongeBob spinach and Dora the Explorer oranges.

Sure, entertainment conglomerates see this as a way to improve their images and appeal to parents. But I still wonder what took them so long. 

We already know that Mickey Mouse fruit will appeal to kids. We've seen it work repeatedly with McDonald's Happy Meals, sugary cereals, high-fat snacks and other foods that aren't good for kids. I just wish they'd figure out how to insert a toy prize inside an apple.

I know that clever, sly marketing bothers a lot of people. Theoretically, it bugs me too. But in practice, I think it's powerful and persuasive tool and one that should be used to sell an obese nation better food.

For example, I'd be far more tempted to buy, say, quinoa if it came in a box with a clean, modern look and a recipe from some happening chef. And I'd be more inclined to try spelt bread if it came with a compelling logo.

Whole Foods, Wild Oats and Trader Joes understand this, and that's probably why I -- and millions of others -- routinely go out of our way to spend more money on their private label products.

Maybe I should have qualms about Disneyified produce. But the truth is, I wish they'd give us stick cartoons on lentils and brown rice, too.