We live in a fast track society, and the goal of the typical consumer is simple: get the best product for the least amount of money in the shortest amount of time. When at the supermarket, it is easy to quickly scan boxes and cans for signs that assure us of a quality product. Among these familiar signs are the stamps of approval from the American Heart Association and the Smart Choices program. In many cases, however, these assurances of quality and nutrition are not what they seem to be. The use of deceptive health marketing by corporations on food products is unethical. Many of the names consumers trust to guide them in a better lifestyle are actually paid large sums of money by corporations for the privilege of putting a logo on their product. When deciding between similar products, consumers are often drawn to familiar names and logos over the unknown. Corporations are well aware of this fact, and are willing to pay large quantities of money for the right to a label. In 1994, the Florida Department of Citrus paid the American Heart Association $450,000 dollars for a promotion and advertising deal that prohibited any other citrus provider from using the AHA’s logo or promotion (Burros). Florida Citrus has no special benefits over California or Mexican citrus- but they have the ability to convince consumers that their product is better for you. The AHA is aware that their system is not the most ethical, as can be seen in their refusal to call their agreements with corporations “endorsements”. “We don't endorse products,'' said Brigid McHugh Sanner, the heart association's senior vice president for communications and advocacy ''We call those food-certification programs or corporate relationships. None of this constitu... ... middle of paper ... ... Expanded Edition (California Studies in Food and Culture). 2 ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. Print. Nestle, Marion. What to Eat. 1 ed. New York: North Point Press, 2007. Print. Neuman, William. "For Your Health, Froot Loops." The New York Times 5 Sept. 2010: B.1. Print. Parker, Betty. "FOOD FOR HEALTH: The Use of Nutrient Content, Health, and Structure/Function Claims in Food Advertisements." Journal of Advertising 32.3 (2003): 47-55. Proquest. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. Ruiz, Rebecca. "Smart Choices Foods: Dumb As They Look? - Forbes.com." Forbes.com - Business News, Financial News, Stock Market Analysis, Technology & Global Headline News. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2010. . Yarnall, Stephen. "'Nonsense' Stamp Put on AHA Plan."Medical World News 31.6 (1990): 47. Print.
Companies nowadays are using different and strong methods in marketing their food products. The Companies are very competitive, and the results can affect the people. When we think about this job field, it is convincing that those producers should use cleverly ways to gain their own living. In the other side they shouldn’t use misleading ways that could harm the people. Food companies should be straightforward with every marketing method they use. People have the right to know what they are consuming and also to know the effects of these products on them, whether it is harmful, useful, or even neutral.
Steindom, Joel. “My Food Manifesto, Part One: The Bad News.” Steidom.com. Ed. Joel Steindom, Heather Steindom. 2007. 24 July 2008. .
...pened my eyes to the health risks of the food I consume. There is a lot of health risks associated with the foods on the shelves at the supermarket. A food product I ate as a child was Lunchables. At the time I just thought the food was good. Although, now that I am aware of what I put in my body I try to look at the ingredient and the food products I consume before I consume them. The book also informed me of the deceitfulness of people in order to make a profit. A prime example in Chapter eleven is the Kraft Company. The Kraft Company state they want to decrease the amounts of salt, sugar and fat in their products. On the other hand, Kraft creates new products with an increased amount of these ingredients. Many companies state that they try to fulfill the desires of consumers. This idea is wrong. The consumers study what our body craves and uses it against us.
In the article “The End of Food,” Lizzie Widdicombe describes an advancement of our food culture through a new product developed by three young men living in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. After failing to produce new inexpensive cellphone towers on a hundred seventy thousand dollar investment, the three men went on to try and develop software with their remaining funding. While trying to maximize their funding’s longevity, they realized that their biggest budget impediment was food. In fact, it reached the point where their diet comprised of mostly fast food, and eventually they despised the fact that they had to spend so much time and money on eating. Due to this hardship, Rob Rhinehart, one of the entrepreneurs, came up with the
T., Kraak, V. I., 2005, p.153). The book will be used in the sections where food industry and advertising could change their marketing toward healthy choices to help reducing and preventing
Eating is an instinctual habit; however, what we decide to put in our body is a choice that will affect our way of living. In “The American Paradox,” Michael Pollan, a professor of journalism at University of California, Berkeley, disapproves of the way Americans have been eating. The term “American paradox” describes the inverse correlation where we spend more of our time on nutrition, but it would only lead to our overall health deteriorating. According to Pollan, our way of eating that had been governed with culture, or our mother, was changed by the entities of food marketers and scientists, who set up nutritional guidelines that changed the way we think about food. Nutritional advice is inaccurate as it is never proven, and it is not beneficial
You know the sayings, “you are what you eat” and “abs are made in the gym and revealed in the kitchen?” Well, it’s difficult for people to realize what they are truly eating, or cooking up in the kitchen, if they don’t understand how their food is produced. Many of the so-called “healthy foods” at local grocery stores are nutritionally deficient and full of chemicals, pesticides, and additives that disrupt your hormonal balance. Even though corporations and lobbyists don't want consumers knowing what's in their food or how their food is produced, we need more transparent foods labels so people know what they are putting in their bodies. As a customer you’re paying for this product. Therefore, you have the right to know if it’s a good long-term investment.
Blatt, Harvey. "What Is This Stuff We're Eating?" America's Food: What You Don't Know about What You Eat. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008. 202. Print.
This is concerning because if Better Foods partakes in stretching the truth, they are no longer being honest with their consumers. Better Foods should be a
Kittler, P. G., & Sucher, K. (2000). Cultural foods: traditions and trends. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.
The food industry wants people to think that their advertising of products is good for you, but in reality they are not. Most of us don’t even know what we are consuming from eating their food. If people knew what was in their food that the food industries are promoting/advertising, they wouldn’t want to eat it. There can be given facts on this and maybe even some proof as to what you don’t know about the food industry, but also what you are consuming in your body at the same time. Some of the products that they advertise on TV, Billboards, and etcetera, you actually start to believe that they are good products until you start to do your research
More and More people are becoming concerned about what they eat, especially if they consume food products that are manufactured in food industries. However, it is hard to know what exactly you are consuming if food industries provide false nutrition content and mislead consumers by placing false advertisements on the packaging. When a company produces a product that contains misleading label, consumers are not receiving complete information about the food they are eating which could lead to health issues including allergies and problems with diabetes.
MacLennan R, Zhang A. “Cuisine: the concept and its health and nutrition implications-global.”Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr. 13.2(2004):131-135. Print.
Foods and grocery items are marketed toward health by letting the consumers know what they are getting before they buy it – providing people with facts about health as well as promising they will get something in return like a healthier life. Health claims describe the relationship between a food and the risk of a disease. A health claim states or implies that a food has valuable dietary properties, like being Trans fat free, boosting immunity, being high in fiber, and containing a reduced about of total fat. It is important that products that make health claima have a identified amount of the valuable dietary properties that is directly tied to the disease it claims to help. An example of a health claim would be foods that have high calcium content, which may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis, or foods that are low in fat which may help reduce the risk of some cancers (FDA.gov). The requirements of these health claims must be maintained and are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These claims are important for the buyers to know about; and, therefore they are suitable to be placed on the label of foods. Using the same example above, if people are interested in reducing their risk of osteoporosis, it is helpful for them to know that the foods they are thinking about buying will or will not help them achieve that objective.