What the hell is up with these corn syrup commercials?
Ok–so I seriously have to rant here. These high fructose corn syrup commercials on TV are seriously driving me out of my mind and making me so angry. It is so sick that they are even allowed on the air. Recently, I just finished reading Michael Pollan’s brilliant book In Defense of Food
By total coincidence, I happened to see the latest in these commericial abominations right as I was finishing up this book about why processed foods are so bad for you. The latest commercial from the high fructose corn syrup people goes something like this:
Mom 1 is pouring some sort of neon red food colored corn syrup filled water concoction into cups that are clearly for her child’s birth day. mom 2 sees this.
Mom 2: Wow! You must not really love your kid.
Mom 1: Why?
Mom 2: Because you are serving that stuff and you know what they say about high fructose corn syrup.
Mom 1: What do they say?
Mom 2: (looks confused) Um…Um…Um…
Mom 1: That it is made from corn. It is all natural, just like sugar? That just like sugar it is fine in moderation?
Mom 2 then smiles, embarrassed, and picks up a cup of the corn syrup water and begins drinking it.
When I saw this the first time sitting alone in my hotel room at Caesars I actually yelled at the tv. I mean there are so many things wrong with this bullshit commercial but I will highlight a few here.
1) Somehow there is an assumption here that because Mom 2 can’t actually articulate what it is that is wrong with high fructose corn syrup that the HFCS is not bad for you. That her lack of knowledge about the metabolic problems with the stuff some how takes away any validity to her initial assertion that it is bad for you. First, that is like saying that because I don’t know exactly what it is that cyanide does to you other than that it is poison that somehow it can’t harm me. Second, and more importantly, this really speaks to advertisers ability to prey on people’s lack of critical thinking skills. They are counting on the fact that many people actually will believe the BS that because Mom 2 can’t explain the problem that the corn syrup is then fine to eat.
Her answer should have been something like, “I don’t know the exact metaqbolic processes that are involved here but I do know that since the introduction of HFCS America has gotten super fat and 1 in 3 people have Type II diabetes now which is directly related to the introduction of high fructose corn syrup in our diets. The fact that I don’t know why that is doesn’t mean that the relationship just goes away.”
2) I think that regardless of what you think about HFCS an appropriate response would have been, “Hey…you could have fed your child JUICE instead of this crap sugar water. Are you seriously trying to tell me that you think water dyed and filled with HFCS is the BEST choice for your child? Over JUICE? Really, lady?” Now, I know juice has its issues. I don’t let my kids drink juice almost at all. But that aside, juice..made from actual fruit, is surely better than fake sugar crap regardless of your take on corn syrup or whether you can express that it is bad for you. I mean…seriously…the lady is choosing empty sugar water over juice. Come on, people.
2) I am very angry at the misuse of the word “natural.” The ad people are manipulating that word equating natural with good for you. But hemlock is natural. poison mushrooms are natural. HEROIN is natural. Could you imagine a commercial where the mom 2 says,”I can’t believe you are giving your child heroin” and mom 1 says, “Why? Because it is natural? Because it comes from a plant, just like spinach?” That is basically what they are saying here. HFCS comes from corn which is natural and, they are implying, therefore good for you. But natural does not mean good for you. It just means occurring in nature. Like big, angry hippos that charge and kill you.
(BTW, there is a similar issue with the label “multigrain” on packages. We assume that means whole grain and, therefore, better for your health. But it actually just means more than on type of flour, all of which could be bleached and white and stripped of all nutritive value).
3) In saying that high fructose corn syrup is just corn there is an implication that the effect on the body HCFS has is the same as corn. But that is patently ridiculous because that asserts that the form in which a substance is delivered to the body does not change the effect it has. So that assumes that chewing coca leaves, for example, has the same effect on the body that smoking cocain has which has the same effect as shooting up cocaine. Cocaine…all natural because it comes from coca leaves. Retarded. Snorting heroin is not the same at shooting it. Eating an apple has a different effect on the body than drinking apple juice. Cheese and milk are not the same. The sugars in the corn delivered in absence of the corn itself (with all its fiber and other nutrients) have an effect on the pancreas that is quite different that eating corn whole. And according to Mark Bittman, there is at least one study that has found a compound in HFCS that directly causes diabetes. Not so for corn alone. If you are interest in Mark Bittman’s books check out
Now, I am not saying that corn itself doesn’t have problems. It does. You can read Bittman or Pollan to learn more about the problems with corn and soy and the subsidies and whatnot. But corn is certainly much better for you than high fructose corn syrup just like juice is certainly a better choice than some crazy neon red water filled with sugar.
Anyway..the issue I am having with the stupid commercials is that they just assume most Americans are stupid enough to throw all critical thinking skills out the window. They assume we are not smart enough to figure out that juice would surely be a better choice, that we are too dumb to know that an inability to articulate why a product is bad for us does not prove that it is not bad for us, that we don’t get that natural does not equal good for you and that we are so dumb we couldn’t possibly figure out that the solid form of a food (corn) might have a different effect on the body than the liquid form of its distilled sugars.
These commercials are, in a word, insulting.
Read this post, JUST bought the Kindle edition of “Food Rules” for my iPhone and put a hold on the audiobooks of ‘In Defense of Food’ and ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma” at my local library. I’m really trying to turn my eating around.
I first saw you on TWiSt with Jason Calacanis. Great show there, great post here. Also, I hear you’re some sort of poker enthusiast?
Wow. Could start an entire Random Rant about this, however, you’ve said it all already. They teach courses in this stuff, actually, using persuasion, etc. And the fact that only 1 out of 100 people need to believe the message is good enough for them.
Please watch You Tube video lecture ‘Sugar – the bitter truth’ to learn more about HFCS and its affect on our health.
I completely agree.
I also find it funny that pepsi, mountain dew and dr pepper are having “throwback” or “heritage” editions that use real sugar !
Just permanantly change your products!
Let’s produce a counter commercial;
women 1 pouring a cup of red poison
for herself and children
women 2 – “you don’t care that you
are about to drink poison”
1: what are you talking about
2: drinks or other food with HFCS
1: what do you mean, I thought it was
all natural, made of corn, and good in
moderation
2: well you were lied to. HFCS is no
more natural than agent orange, is the
leading cause of diabetes, and has the
addictive properties of many drugs
1: wow, I had no idea
2: I know, it’s hard to believe that the
government let’s this stuff be sold,
it kind of like the way they treated the
tabacoo industry back in the day.
However, there are lots of sources of
real information on the perils of HFCS
screen scrolls with book titles and authors
of the many many great references on
the subject
[...] I’m looking forward to playing in a poker tournament hosted by Annie Duke for After School All Stars on Thursday, May 20, at 7:30 at the Commerce Casino in L.A. Like me, Annie is passionate about health, poker and decision-making. I especially enjoyed Annie’s take on high fructose corn syrup. [...]
I am glad that you answered my question on that commercial. They almost had me convinced. You are a great and caring Mom!
I am so happy to have found this blog. These commercials have been getting under my skin for a year now. How dare they promote this and shame on the networks that allow to air them!! I also agree with the “throwback” comment. When I saw that they were having throwback using real sugar I thought “Why wouldnt they just use it all the time and how horrible that people still drink the “fake sugar” after they disgustingly promoted it?” There is a reason why America is in the shape that it is. I wish more people had the knowledge.
I am in total agreement with you about HFCS. As a side note it is important to make sure that when you buy sugar at the grocery store that you buy 100% pure Cane Sugar. Unless specified the bad of sugar you buy at the store is either Beet Sugar or a mix of cane and Beet sugar. So what the difference ask the Sugar board and they will say nothing they are the same. IF you bake buy both and compare the cane sugar baked goods will taste better. Now try a coffee or tea with “Cane” sugar, and one with “Beet” sugar if you probably will find that one with Cane Sugar tastes sweeter and slightly less bitter and if you like me will use less sugar.
Just a little whatever for thought both and Coke and Pepsi switched to from Cane Sugar to HFCS in 1985 in the USA and look what has happened to all are waist sizes.
Now for another little pet peeve of mine Butter vs Butter substitutes, read the labels (look at Trans Fats)is all I have to say is use neither but if you do use Butter in moderations its better for you and tastes better also.
Quite an interesting post and supporting comments that you have here. I would like to point out that others have made a different case, particularly in terms of natural health. Have you run across supplemental viewpoints on the Web, and could you give me some direction?
Hey Annie, I am totally with you on the HFCS bait and switch. I think you make a very articulate case for why one would choose a natural sugar source over HFCS. However, I was disappointed at your use of the word retarded. It implies stupid. Of course, someone identified as retarded or mentally disabled is either born that way or suffers some trauma that creates that condition. So, it’s insensitive to equate stupidity with retardation. I am sure that that was not at all your intention.
Thank you.
I agree. Thank you for pointing that out to me.
I hate to be a late poster on this thread, but I must give it to Annie to accurately articulate my personal position on this issue. As a person who is struggling to eat proper nutrition(Until a few years ago, I was a significant blimp who had the seefood diet and the see soda drink diet. It was not until I had a health scare before I began to change my nutritional habits.), I was glad to see that somebody will take the advertisers to task for their lunancy. My favorite rant was the diatribe on the word “natural”, it reminds me of a bit by George Carlin on the same word on HBO some years back that caused me to ROTFL for several hours(the best comedy is the stuff that is actually true).
The first time I saw it, I was infuriated too. This mono-crop has become a real racket, and considering that almost all of it is genetically modified, it’s even scarier. I’m not surprised that they’re attempting to counter the truth – because it could cost them A LOT of money if enough people wise up and start choosing REAL food instead of the processed crap that takes up so much shelf space now.