Proof: The Sweet Surprise High Fructose Corn Syrup Campaign was a Mistake

Thursday, October 23, 2008

This graph shows you why the Sweet Surprise campaign promoting High Fructose Corn Syrup effectively shot itself in the foot. The top blue line represents worldwide Google searches for the phrase "high fructose corn syrup" since 2004. The bottom blue line represents the number of times "high fructose corn syrup" appeared in Google News stories over the same period of time.

(click here for full interactive results)

Allow me to summarize:

2004 - Little to no awareness of high fructose corn syrup.

2005 - Shhh....it's still quiet.

2006 - Dum de dum de dum, whoops...a small bump in the road.

2007 - We're still in the clear...keep putting that sludge into food products.

2008 - Somehow we continue to get away with this....OH MY GOD!!!!

That, my friends, is how you design a horrible, horrible roller coaster.

The key is in the numbered flags, which represent major news stories: lawsuit settlements, scientific analysis, debunking scientific analysis, ruling against the Mexican HFCS tax, etc. Notice that across the entire four years, major news coverage regarding high fructose corn syrup did not translate into increased consumer awareness or interest (when people are interested in something, they Google it). The two lines do not seem to correlate at all.

From a news perspective, things appeared to get rough in 2007 and 2008, with many more bursts of stories covering this overlord of cheap calories. But yet, the googling trends remain flat.

What in the name of government subsidies happened in August of 2008? That's right: the Sweet Surprise Campaign launched with primetime TV commercials promoting high fructose corn syrup. I've written about it before (and you should absolutely click thru and watch them), but if Google is any guide (and it is), the Corn Refiners Association screwed up big time and brought attention to a problem that barely existed.

But don't stop now, your commercials continue to amuse and entertain the enlightened eaters in TV land. At a time like this, there is really only one thing to say:

The Industrial Food Complex: Take the Red Pill with 'The Meatrix'

Monday, October 6, 2008

What do you get when you mix:

• Creativity
  
• The Matrix
  
• Facts about industrial dairy farms
  
• And a lot of time?
  

The Meatrix!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 2 1/2

So be thankful for living in the digital age, otherwise creative advertising like this wouldn't exist!

Another Crazy Commercial Promoting High Fructose Corn Syrup

Friday, October 3, 2008

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to check back in on our friends at Sweet Surprise. Perhaps I figured they'd give up on their advertising campaign promoting high fructose corn syrup? Thankfully not! If their last two commercials didn't sway you, this one certainly will:

Sweet Surprise Ad 3 - Grab some popcorn (don't worry, it's healthy because it's made from corn) then click on "Brothers", and sit back and enjoy the show.

These ads are so beloved, that "tribute" ads are popping up all over YouTube. I've done the dirty work for you, below are my two favorites:

I pledge to put up their next commercial as soon as is humanly possible. If anyone happens to see it before I do, please drop me a note so we can all bask in its awesomeness.

Check out the post about the original 2 HFCS ads.

Fast Food Advertising: A Black, Soul-less Void

Monday, September 15, 2008

Thanks to Deadspin for the scoop. Jay Cutler, quarterback of the Denver Broncos, currently stars in commercials for McDonalds. Well, I probably would too if given the chance (and maybe donate my resulting paycheck to a worthy, health food related cause?), but not as a diabetic.

This isn't quite like a lung cancer patient pitching cigarettes, but it's close.

I'm not sure who engrages me more: the chicken who crossed the road, or the slaughterhouses advertising department on the other side.

PS - For the record, the McDonalds menu mentions "sugar" 157 times.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: TV says it's good for you

Monday, September 8, 2008

Thanks to both Fast Food News and The Accidental Hedonist for this bit of news.

Apparently, there is enough of a building consumer push towards healthier food that the industrial food complex (I love how evil that phrase sounds, don't you?) is running political food ads. High fructose corn syrup is getting a bad rap these days, and according to them, for no good reason.





Obviously it's perfectly natural and healthy - it's made of corn after all! Well, here are a few other things made from corn:

• Adhesives (glues, pastes, mucilages, gums, etc.)
  
• Aluminum
  
• Antibiotics (penicillin)
  
• Asbestos insulation
  
• Aspirin
  
• Automobiles: cylinder heads, ethanol - fuel & windshield washer fluid, spark plugs, synthetic rubber finishes, tires
  

If this list seems surprisingly alphabetic, I merely took the first 6 items from this list of corn uses, provided by some sort of Canadian corn advocacy group. Frankly, I thought it would take longer than 5 seconds of googling to prove my point. Take a look for yourself, there is other stuff like: candy, potato chips, licorice, mayonnaise, soda, whiskey, etc. None of which you can really make a case for as foods we "should be eating".

Yes, high fructose corn syrup won't kill you, immediately. But it's no coincidence that the number of children developing diabetes in this country correlates nicely with the rise in sweeteners (primarily high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS) being processed into just about everything at the supermarket. Why not eliminate the middle man and have us all just put our lips around the spout on the back of one of these?

(image courtesy of boeke)

The big joke with the punchline of these commercials is that you won't have any problems "in moderation". There is already enough hidden sugar in our diets (real sugars and all the ingredients that end in -ose) that we aren't even aware of (in sauces, dressings, breads, cereals, etc), that it is absolutely irresponsible to suggest that we have room for more in the form of popsicles and red sugar-water/juice, as depicted in the commercials.

So, despite fact that the "opposers" in the commercials have a strong enough stance against HFCS that they would condescendingly mention it to a friend (only the truly committed take it that far), they are instantly swayed back to the other side by one eloquent sentence? No, the people who are already anti-HFCS will not be phased by this ridiculous bit of self-serving propaganda. It is the people who were on the fence. And sadly, those are the people who can really make a difference, because there are a lot of them.

Edit: Another commercial (and some tributes) have been released promoting high fructose corn syrup.

Shocking News: Food Labels can be Misleading!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Say it ain't so! Forbes says yes, it so. A few days ago they published this article entitled Nine Ways Food Labels Mislead. (They created a fun slide-show for those who prefer coffee table books to novels.)

But that's what I'm here for, to give you the highlights. Like this gem:

A 2006 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that examined 200 primary care patients' comprehension of food labels showed, for instance, that only 32% could correctly calculate the amount of carbohydrates in a 20-ounce bottle of soda with multiple servings.

This tells us three shocking things about primary care patients:

1. They don't understand food labels.
   
2. Their math skills are suspect.
   
3. Apparently, some of them participate in studies.
   

But seriously, it should be no surprise that people don't fully understand labels (even non-primary care patients), and that manufacturers clearly manipulate serving sizes to make the numbers more palatable. The article does give great advice though: focus on the ingredients. 

(photo courtesy of Waldo Jaquith)

This is surprisingly easier than it seems. I should know, I've been an ingredient nazi for the last few weeks. If one brand of soy milk has 4 ingredients and the other has 3. Guess which one I go for? I pass on anything with ingredients that aren't clearly whole foods or spices. That eliminates pretty much everything with the letter Z.

Another example mentioned in the article: Sara Lee has a "whole grain" bread product that actually only contains 30% whole grains. Obviously, Sarah Lee's marketing efforts have clearly mislead consumers.

To make a long story short...

Ignore what it says on the front of the package. Then ignore what the nutrition label says. The list of ingredients, my friend, are where it's at.