Spoon Fed Deception

Have you ever wondered why Coke, Pepsi, McDonald's etc always have the most wonderfully entertaining ads? I remember growing up and watching the super bowl strictly for the advertisements. That was when the large corporations always rolled out their new ad campaigns. Pepsi always had some wonderful up and coming star selling their product, as did coke. The images of cultural beauty, and “coolness” were strung all over the screen for a visual feast. I was left sitting there thinking...hum...maybe I'll go drink a “coke.”

Truth in Advertising; now that is an interesting thought. How can there truly be truth in advertising, especially when it comes to food? Advertising happens on manufactured products. Products that people, industry, professions, or government are making money. Products that are viewed as more essential to life, rarely contain advertising. Why? The profit margin on vegetables, fruits, real meats, and cheeses are minimal in comparison...when is the last time you saw an ad during the super bowl for “grass-fed beef?” No “real food” company could ever afford multi-billion dollar ad campaigns...they simply aren't making enough money on their products.

When we start to see products become crazily advertised, as a consumer, we should start to think why? Paul Hawken, Author of “The Magic of Findhorn,” simply puts it:
A product like Coca-Cola which contains known poisons and destroys teeth and stomach has one of the most stunning ad campaigns in the history of the Western World.
It is really fantastic: This unreal amount of money creating an illusion-the illusion that “coke is the real thing.” ...Yep, Coke is the real thing and this is drilled into the minds of 97 percent of all young people between the age of six and nineteen until their teeth are rotting (out of their heads) just like their parents' did.
There is nothing truthful about advertising. Imagine a young pimply faced kid in front of a camera telling folks how clear his complexion was before he started drinking Coke; and even though he knows it's bumming his social life, he just can't seem to get off the stuff. That would be truth in advertising. Or how about a young girl holding up a can of orange drink made in New Jersey saying the reason it's is orange is because of the food coloring. The reason it is bad is because we use coal-tar artificial flavoring, and the reason we would like you to try it is because we want to make money. Truth in advertising would be the end of three major networks, 500 magazines, several thousand newspapers, and tens of thousands of businesses. So, there will never be truth in advertising.

How do we cope with the massive bombardment of lies we are spoon fed everyday? We need to become educated consumers. The reason fancy ads campaign sell products is our lack of knowledge and our over abundance of trust of the corporation. If we knew that coke was rotting our bodies from the inside out, and causes mountains of long term damaging effects, chronic illness, disease, etc... we would reconsider our beverage selection at the family picnic...but even if we “know” Coke isn't great (as most of us do) but don't truly understand enough about the body to recognize it as a poison (which is truly what it is) we are liable to just “save” it for special occasions, as a treat of some sort. Let me ask you, when is the last time you considered arsenic for a beverage on special occasions? We don't and no one would ever knowingly “treat” your child to a glass of it...


Poison: Any substance applied to the body, ingested, or developed within the body, which causes or may cause disease, injury, illness, or death.

Think about that definition next time you are shopping. Start to analyze your food. Are you ingesting poison on a daily basis? Learn about what sugar does to the body, learn where your “food colorings” come from, learn about the big food industry and their tactics. The only way to ensure you aren't taken advantage of is to be wise to their deceptive tactics in marketing. In short, if you see advertising for a product...you may want to think twice about buying it...

Book Suggestions: Sugar Blues by William Duffy