Government Control of a Nation’s Food Consumption:
Infringement of Individual Rights or Saving a Nation From Obesity
There is no denying that the US has an obesity problem. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, more than one third of the adults in America are obese. Sadly, the numbers for children considered obese have risen right along with the adults putting children at triple the rate of obesity from just one generation before them. However, is the government controlling the nation’s food consumption the answer? Some feel the government providing new restrictions is a violation of their individual right to make their own decisions. Therefore, some would claim the answer is to educate the public on what choices provide for a healthy diet and let individuals decide for themselves what foods are best for their family. Education is a necessary, important factor in changing the American diet; however, education alone is not enough. We are fighting the exhaustion of long fast-paced workdays and deceptive corporate marketing strategies aimed at both adults and worse, to impressionable children. This is in combination with food products that are formulated specifically to cause addiction. Movement toward government regulation on the restaurant industry and general food industry is necessary to stop the deceptive marketing and production of poor quality, addictive foods which contribute to the growing obesity rate in America.
Recently, the mayor of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, attempted to pass a bill to limit the size of soda fountain drinks to no larger than 16 ounces with no success. The petition responsible for the bill’s failure was signed by groups who represented local restaurants, theaters and beverage makers, and called Bloomberg's attempt to regulate the soda size an “unprecedented interference” with consumer choice. Are consumers really aware of the contents of the food they are choosing and its possible addictive qualities? Are consumers aware of how detrimentally these choices are effecting them or are consumers many times ‘giving in’ to the convenience and appeal of well marketed unhealthy food that is a comfort after a long work day? A study at Cornell University showed that the demands of working long hours and fluctuating schedules on low to middle income, working parents’ food choices. Out of the 25 women and 25 men surveyed, more than half the parents in the study resorted to quick-fix options for meals or fast food for their families. The exhaustion of these parents caused them to overlook the healthy ideal meals, which often take more time to prepare, in favor of the ease of less healthy options.
Marketing companies prey on the idea of offering the quick fix for stressed parents. One example is shown in the creation of the "Lunchables" packaged lunch for children. Bob Drane, vice president of Oscar Mayer, interviewed groups of moms in 1985 in an attempt to create a product that would increase sales for their processed meat products. What he discovered in these meetings he called,” …a gold mine of disappointments and problems." The moms talked about how hectic their days were and complained about making lunches for their children to take to school in the morning. Bob Drane put a team together and created a product called "Lunchables" which consisted of crackers, processed meat and cheese food-- real cheese was too pricey and did not slice well. Oscar Mayer marketing department decided then to not only market to the parents but also to the children in a shameless ploy to guarantee success for their product. Ads for "Lunchables" said, “All day you gotta do what they say, but lunchtime is all yours”. "Lunchables" sold well and to keep profits going Oscar Mayer created larger versions of the product, which included desserts and sugary drinks, leading a "Lunchable" to contain two-thirds of the daily maximum recommended sodium intake, 13 grams of sugar and almost 9 grams of saturated fat. Bob Drane explains how marketing works in one speech to University of Wisconsin M.B.A.’s:
“Discover what consumers want to buy and give it to them with both barrels. Sell more, keep your job! How do marketers often translate these ‘rules’ into action on food? Our limbic brains love sugar, fat, salt…So formulate products to deliver these. Perhaps add low-cost ingredients to boost profit margins. Then ‘supersize’ to sell more…And advertise/promote to lock in ‘heavy users’.”
In Bob Drane’s speech he likens the consumers to addicts in calling them "heavy users" and he may have a point about companies creating food addiction. Howard Moskowits used his doctoral degree in experimental psychology from Harvard to create a team of experimenters for a concept he calls "food optimization." These experimenters are paid to taste, touch, and smell various foods to say which one has the greatest appeal and keep them coming back for more! They are determining what Moskowits calls the "bliss point," in which an elated food experience happens and produces future cravings for the product. In addition to these tactics, there is another chemical factor which comes into play with snack products called “vanishing caloric density”, which allows a product to melt quickly in the mouth, triggering the brain into thinking there are no calories in what has just been consumed.
The consumer in America is facing a barrage of tactics by fast food and general food industries to keep poor quality, addictive foods on the market. Beating America’s obesity rate will certainly be a challenge and I do not believe the consumer can win the fight alone against the food industries. The government needs to push for strict regulations on these companies to improve our nation’s health, even if it may take time for everyone to see we truly need this intervention. We need new laws to prohibit the creation of foods that are addictive in nature and poor quality and limits on marketing strategies. Educating the public on dietary health should continue; however, the public needs more than one tactic to fight against the slew of tactics food companies have stacked against us.
Works Cited:
Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. “Adult Obesity Facts.” “Childhood Obesity Facts.” Web. Cdc.gov
Dolmetsch, Chris and Goldman, Henry. “New York Soda Size Limit, Statute Barred by State Judge.” Web. 11 Mar. 2013
Moss, Michael. “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food.” Web. Nytimes.com 20 Feb 2013
Park, Alice. “ The Working Person’s Diet: Too Busy to Eat Right.”web. time.com 10 Sept 2009
Infringement of Individual Rights or Saving a Nation From Obesity
There is no denying that the US has an obesity problem. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, more than one third of the adults in America are obese. Sadly, the numbers for children considered obese have risen right along with the adults putting children at triple the rate of obesity from just one generation before them. However, is the government controlling the nation’s food consumption the answer? Some feel the government providing new restrictions is a violation of their individual right to make their own decisions. Therefore, some would claim the answer is to educate the public on what choices provide for a healthy diet and let individuals decide for themselves what foods are best for their family. Education is a necessary, important factor in changing the American diet; however, education alone is not enough. We are fighting the exhaustion of long fast-paced workdays and deceptive corporate marketing strategies aimed at both adults and worse, to impressionable children. This is in combination with food products that are formulated specifically to cause addiction. Movement toward government regulation on the restaurant industry and general food industry is necessary to stop the deceptive marketing and production of poor quality, addictive foods which contribute to the growing obesity rate in America.
Recently, the mayor of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, attempted to pass a bill to limit the size of soda fountain drinks to no larger than 16 ounces with no success. The petition responsible for the bill’s failure was signed by groups who represented local restaurants, theaters and beverage makers, and called Bloomberg's attempt to regulate the soda size an “unprecedented interference” with consumer choice. Are consumers really aware of the contents of the food they are choosing and its possible addictive qualities? Are consumers aware of how detrimentally these choices are effecting them or are consumers many times ‘giving in’ to the convenience and appeal of well marketed unhealthy food that is a comfort after a long work day? A study at Cornell University showed that the demands of working long hours and fluctuating schedules on low to middle income, working parents’ food choices. Out of the 25 women and 25 men surveyed, more than half the parents in the study resorted to quick-fix options for meals or fast food for their families. The exhaustion of these parents caused them to overlook the healthy ideal meals, which often take more time to prepare, in favor of the ease of less healthy options.
Marketing companies prey on the idea of offering the quick fix for stressed parents. One example is shown in the creation of the "Lunchables" packaged lunch for children. Bob Drane, vice president of Oscar Mayer, interviewed groups of moms in 1985 in an attempt to create a product that would increase sales for their processed meat products. What he discovered in these meetings he called,” …a gold mine of disappointments and problems." The moms talked about how hectic their days were and complained about making lunches for their children to take to school in the morning. Bob Drane put a team together and created a product called "Lunchables" which consisted of crackers, processed meat and cheese food-- real cheese was too pricey and did not slice well. Oscar Mayer marketing department decided then to not only market to the parents but also to the children in a shameless ploy to guarantee success for their product. Ads for "Lunchables" said, “All day you gotta do what they say, but lunchtime is all yours”. "Lunchables" sold well and to keep profits going Oscar Mayer created larger versions of the product, which included desserts and sugary drinks, leading a "Lunchable" to contain two-thirds of the daily maximum recommended sodium intake, 13 grams of sugar and almost 9 grams of saturated fat. Bob Drane explains how marketing works in one speech to University of Wisconsin M.B.A.’s:
“Discover what consumers want to buy and give it to them with both barrels. Sell more, keep your job! How do marketers often translate these ‘rules’ into action on food? Our limbic brains love sugar, fat, salt…So formulate products to deliver these. Perhaps add low-cost ingredients to boost profit margins. Then ‘supersize’ to sell more…And advertise/promote to lock in ‘heavy users’.”
In Bob Drane’s speech he likens the consumers to addicts in calling them "heavy users" and he may have a point about companies creating food addiction. Howard Moskowits used his doctoral degree in experimental psychology from Harvard to create a team of experimenters for a concept he calls "food optimization." These experimenters are paid to taste, touch, and smell various foods to say which one has the greatest appeal and keep them coming back for more! They are determining what Moskowits calls the "bliss point," in which an elated food experience happens and produces future cravings for the product. In addition to these tactics, there is another chemical factor which comes into play with snack products called “vanishing caloric density”, which allows a product to melt quickly in the mouth, triggering the brain into thinking there are no calories in what has just been consumed.
The consumer in America is facing a barrage of tactics by fast food and general food industries to keep poor quality, addictive foods on the market. Beating America’s obesity rate will certainly be a challenge and I do not believe the consumer can win the fight alone against the food industries. The government needs to push for strict regulations on these companies to improve our nation’s health, even if it may take time for everyone to see we truly need this intervention. We need new laws to prohibit the creation of foods that are addictive in nature and poor quality and limits on marketing strategies. Educating the public on dietary health should continue; however, the public needs more than one tactic to fight against the slew of tactics food companies have stacked against us.
Works Cited:
Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. “Adult Obesity Facts.” “Childhood Obesity Facts.” Web. Cdc.gov
Dolmetsch, Chris and Goldman, Henry. “New York Soda Size Limit, Statute Barred by State Judge.” Web. 11 Mar. 2013
Moss, Michael. “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food.” Web. Nytimes.com 20 Feb 2013
Park, Alice. “ The Working Person’s Diet: Too Busy to Eat Right.”web. time.com 10 Sept 2009