Coporations, the villains of obesity?

So today we just got done talking about advertising and Trix and Fruit Rollup were used as examples. The two things they have in common is they are marketed to children. When I was in Keystone, the first thing I asked the General Mills is how they justify marketing to children. The answer she gave me convinced me at the time, but I did some more digging. They have what they call a "responsible marketing plan". It can be seen at http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/commitment/responsible_advertising.aspx.

There restrictions seem pretty reasonable. They try their best not to market their more unhealthy foods to the under 12 crowd and they have removed their unhealhty products for school programs as well. 

It is important to realize that they still market to young children. The Trix rabbit obviously only appeals to children. They use little toys in their boxes to attract children etc. However, marketing is even deeper than that. Product placement in stores is planned out. Companies pay stores to get the placement they want on shelves. Sugary cereals that young children love are placed lower on the shelves. Why? So they can take the box of cereal to their parents and beg them to get it.

My opinion? I can't bring myself to demonize General Mills or companies in similar situations. The consumer ultimately knows what they want. The consumers are the ones that crave these sugary cereals. When General Mills says they market healthy food and it doesn't sell, I 100% believe them. Some may ask why they don't just pull all their unhealthy foods and only give consumers the option to buy healthy foods, but if they did that then another company would provide the sugary cereals that the consumer craves. Obesity WILL NOT be solved by villainizing the corporations. One thing I learned from Keystone is that it will take cooperation from corporations, non profits, academia, and government to solve the problem and the solution ultimately lies within the consumers.

General Mill's and their sugary cereals was just and example, but I spoke to ConAgra and they have had similar issues with their brands as well. Wondering exactly what brands both General Mills and ConAgra own? The length of their products would shock you. You don't realize how much of the different brands you own are actually provided by a single corporation like Con Agra.

A comment on my Media Report (so far anyways)

Okay so I understand I am guilty of watching way to much TV. It is even worse than that however, since I watch every trashy reality TV show out there (except Momma's Boys). So what kind of commercials have I been seeing so far... mainly advertisements other trashy reality shows that they are trying to get me hooked on as well, which makes sense. A TV stations first priority is themselves. I also see a lot of Neutrogena commercials... you know, the one with Vanessa Hudgens. I have also seen a lot of make up commercials. On NBC, I see a lot of HULU commercials and tons of car commercials. They must really be suffering, because they have cut their prices (especially the KIA Sorento, I saw that commercial a billion times). Anyways..........................................................................................................................................................

Its kind of sad how many commercials I watch in an hour. There are about 5 commercial breaks in an hour (sometimes more) and about 9 commercials per break. That is 45 commercials an hour. (this is all just a guesstimation). 

Just a thought, just a thought, but I am probably way to influenced by these companies. An example, go to http://www.hulu.com/. I saw this commercial, thought I'd check it out. Mission accomplished for the marketing team at Hulu.com.

I'm sucker, I know, thank you.

A Post on Branding

Important Brands in my life:

Sony

Microsoft

Dell

Honda

Tide

Nestle Pure Life

New Balance

Calvin Klein

Chip and Pepper

American Eagle

Brusters

Edgars

Lord of the Rings stuff

Crest

Dove

MTV and VH1

Publix

Science Diet (for my cat)

Listerine

These are all of brands that I can think of that I use. I do have some sort of brand loyalty to everything that I listed here. These companies have effectively build brands that I can attach myself to, and by impressing me with the quality of their brands they have formed an umbrella of trust for all their products that they make. Advertising and branding play an important part in convincing people what to buy, where to go, and what to do. 

I have been considering the part that branding and advertising plays in 21st century challenges. Is it a tool to be used to solve the problems, is it the cause of many of the problems that we are facing (such as obesity), or both? I'm thinking both... but I'll have to get back to you after I think on it more. 

To see an interesting website that stresses the importance of branding to businesses and a company that creates the brands for you, check out http://www.landor.com/index.cfm?bhcp=1.

Obesity: An Epidemic of Bad Choices

Obesity is a lifestyle problem. In order to fix it, America is going to have to change its culture which seems to me to be based on consumption. I had the pleasure of attending the Keystone Youth Policy Summit on Obesity and to talk with stakeholders concerning the obesity epidemic and worked with other students in proposing different policies to combat the rising trends of obesity. We considered several things that we did in class, an example being that poorer people tend to be more obese. So we focused a lot of attention on the lower class. One idea proposed was to give incenitives to food stamp users to buy healthier foods. This was later discussed and changed to making it mandatory for food stamp users to buy so much certified healthy food (like 25%) with their food stamps. (For the record, I supported making food stamps go further for food stamps meaning that you could buy more healthier food with your food stamps than unhealthy. Personally I believe in convincing people to do things than making them, but I was outvoted not to say that I still don't believe that both ways would be effective.) We also noted that it is easier to prevent a person from becoming obese than getting the already obese to drop the weight, so a lot of our efforts were focused on the schools and education. 

If anyone would like to see the incredibly long paper that was a result of this conference, just ask me and I can bring it to school to show you. I could just show you the good parts so you wouldnt have to read the whole thing.

If you want to learn more about the program I was part of, look at http://www.youthpolicysummit.org/.

This Blessed House

Jhumpa Lahiri's "This Blessed House" really got me thinking. I really can relate to the character Twinkle. Unlike the narrator, Twinkle saw value in things that other people treasure. The narrator wanted to tear down anything that resembled a Christian influence, but Twinkle was fascinated by them. She was enthralled by the story that these objects tell about the family that came before them. So what if you are not Christian, one should still see value in what the symbols stand for, and what others believe even though they do not necessarily follow what you may believe. It gets down to mutual respect for other people and other cultures. 

By understanding people's beliefs and morals, you can get closer to truly understanding who that person is and where they come from. Nobody still worships the dead Pharohs of Egypt, yet we can still marvel at what those who did accomplished when we look at the pyramids. I feel like modern day, people are so caught up in what they believe and what is THEIR culture that they forget to keep an open mind when it comes to others. I also feel that those that claim to be accepting of other cultures are actually just tolerant that other beliefs exist but actually have zero interest in learning about anything different than what they already know. I think Twinkle and the guests at the party were fascinated, intrigued, and open to the new things they were finding in the house. Throwing away something that represents so much to so many people is not something Twinkle would do, but I personally feel like it is something that  most people would do in our world today. They would be more like the narrator and find it ridiculous pointless stuff that means nothing to them. That disappoints me. How far does acceptance of other cultures really have to go? Should we leave them be and just continue to exist in seperate spheres, or should we honestly show an interest in understanding other's cultures and have a mutual respect for their beliefs.

In order to solve the problems our world is facing today we must work together. This requires a mutual respect for each other. If you truly want to help somebody you must understand who they are, where they come from, and what they believe. This is the first challenge that we must all face.