Be Discerning: Can We Believe Food Advertising Claims about Health and Nutrition?

No question about it--growing up with Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, and Ronald McDonald influenced my childhood eating habits as well as the habits of many other children. During the 80’s, few questions were raised about this cutting edge advertising approach which bypassed parents and provided a focused marketing message directed to children. The conventional thought was that it was clever and cute advertising, harmless, and simply designed to sell cereal, hamburgers and fries. Now, as we are learning more about how culture impacts health, some people have questioned whether advertising like this is really so benign. Yet, instead of factors such as the clear evidence of the impact of junk food on our snowballing obesity epidemic thwarting the effects of this advertising, the marketing of junk food products has just become more creative, appealing, and impactful.  These friendly and alluring figures, on the surface represent every child’s ideal world, but all of the cute characters and dynamic commercials mask the reality that junk food, especially in excess, is damaging to our health and longevity.

As an adult, the confusion continues, now we are dealing with a society that worships thinness and pushes diet products, but continues to produce ad upon ad, glorifying undeniably unhealthy food products with images of beautiful glowing people at the forefront. Not much has changed about the strategies, except that the effectiveness of the ads has simply improved as the world of marketing has evolved.  Unfortunately, the marketing industry’s very successful manipulation of its consumers, both young and old, has negatively contributed to our society’s confusion regarding food. With all of the seductive influences around in the media today, pushing unhealthy food products, consumers must develop a skeptical and discerning eye for what we buy and consume.

Even as I have consciously made choices to improve the quality of my diet and invest in my understanding of healthful eating, I know that I am to some extent influenced by the multibillion-dollar food advertising and marketing industries, like most of us are, even when we really know better.  It isn’t that marketing or advertising in any way is fundamentally wrong. My undergraduate degree in Marketing gave me a fair understanding of the concept, enough for me to know that there is an important place in business for it.  However, I think it is important for all of us to understand how marketing and advertising can affect people’s health in many areas such as cigarettes, low nutrient, high caloric junk food and simply in misrepresenting advertising touts as fact.

While the debate about food marketing to children- or anyone- is a very complicated one, definitely too involved to address in one short blog, there are a few basic principles that can be helpful in making sense of the ever-changing landscape of food “products.”  One key to my approach when making food choices, is to generally stick to the basics.  For example, if a food item grows naturally and it doesn’t have a powerful marketing department such as the carrot or a banana, it is probably better for you than the “food product” that do not have a powerful marketing machine behind it.  Many of the food products that are out on the market today are touting particular nutrient powers and make claims that most of us are familiar with but don’t really understand.  They sound impressive but what do they really do for the body? Challenged by this question, I am always on the hunt to find alternatives to the mainstream products that are either a totally unprocessed natural food, or at the least a “product” that is made organically, without the use of artificial ingredients.

I have made many life changes to follow this philosophy and experienced definite healthful results.  One of these changes was in my approach to hydration and electrolyte replenishment during my exercise routines. I made a wholesale switch from Gatorade/PowerAde/ABC sports drink to drinking coconut water. It is natural free of chemical additives and so much more effective. Sure, we all want to be as hot as the femme fatal in the commercial for the Big sports drink, mid-workout drinking her florescent yellow concoction while looking sexy and flawless, but that is just a concocted image. Does that chemicalized sports drink have anything to do with our femme fatale’s awesome physique?  I have a hunch that the multi-hour daily workouts, shiny bronze crème, professional hair and makeup crew, and technical camera tricks have more influence than the sports drink. Instead of trusting the company selling the product, I carefully researched the health benefits of coconut water and learned why it is good for our bodies instead of caring why the sports drink is trendy, popular, or even why the company selling it thinks it is great.  The natural alternative as usual was better in every way!

Challenge yourself to look beyond an expensive food marketing message specifically designed to make you feel good about this product and instead, explore the natural alternatives.  Your efforts may lead you to discover natural solutions that are better.