Sweetened soft drinks and high-calorie snacks are typically considered to be key villains in America's problem with obesity. Today's longread is about how PepsiCo, one of the largest companies manufacturing these products, is looking to incorporate healthier foods into its product line. Because of their distribution networks, expertise in branding and marketing, and sheer scale of their customer base, companies like PepsiCo have the potential to significantly change the composition of the average American diet. However, I think we should continue to have a heavy dose of skepticism about the goals and intentions behind these sorts of campaigns by behemoth processed-food manufacturers. In the end, my concern is that as long as our focus is to manufacture cheap food in huge quantities, we probably will fail to adequately tackle America's weight problem.
"Snacks For a Fat Planet" by John Seabrook
Published in the New Yorker, May 2011
http://byliner.com/john-seabrook/stories/snacks-for-a-fat-planet
Eric
Without even reading the article perhaps people should take responsibility for themselves. PepsiCo doesn't make you eat anything.
ReplyDeletePepsiCo doesn't make you eat anything, but there are a number of reasons why I don't think it's fair or productive to put the entire burden of America's obesity problems on individuals. Some of those reasons:
Delete1. Access: We both live in large cities with abundant food options, but that's not the case for millions of people. Because companies like PepsiCo have such economies of scale in their enormous distribution networks, they are more likely to be present even in markets with limited food choices.
2. Cost: Making healthier food choices is often not feasible in the current food system. PepsiCo and similar companies mass produce cheap food that many people opt for at least in part because it is the least expensive option.
3. Marketing: We are absolutely bombarded with advertisements for food. Even in places like school cafeterias, you regularly see logos of major companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. From a very, very young age we are molded as consumers to foster brand and product loyalties. Can these be overcome? Absolutely, but there is no doubt in my mind that these companies help to shape public opinion about taste, nutrition, diet, etc.
4. Information: It is hard to know what the best choices are. Most people know that 2 Big Macs, fries, and a large Coke isn't good for you. But in terms of everyday eating, it can be hard to know how to eat well. Food labels are complex, and things like serving sizes are often completely out of whack with how people think about food. Again, a really dedicated consumer can navigate these challenges. But I think it's unfair to make this completely the responsibility of the consumer.
These are just a few quick examples. By no means am I trying to say that individuals don't play the integral role in improving nutrition in America. But more broadly, I think we also need some societal changes about our relationship to food -- how we eat, what we eat, and why -- that cannot occur without changes from companies that are responsible for producing a tremendous amount of what is consumed in our country.
Eric
Completely agree with Eric...eating in America (and other parts of the western world) is a lot like being in a casino. The food industry has created a system based on a lot of flash, glamour, and misinformation, foods that are "Light" or "sugar free" or "whole grain" or "low sodium" or "fat free"..it goes on and on. And most importantly, it's rigged against you. The decision-making process of purchasing food in the United States has become more complicated than ever before. It's a genuinely difficult task to know whether a food product is healthy. The amount of engineering that goes into some foods is astounding. Food companies these days look to achieve the perfect crunch or the ideal mix of taste--it goes well beyond coming out with the next "Twinkie" or somehow inventing a food product that did not exist before. The ability of food producers to achieve cravings or addictions, while overriding normal impulses to eat based on hunger, is quite amazing. There are an enormous number of foods these days that present the same dilemma for the typical consumer, which is that foods that people are consuming are the most addictive, most nutrionally deficient, and also the cheapest option. You must fight against an information gap, your own primitive hardwiring in your brain, and your wallet. It's a battle Americans have been losing for several decades.
ReplyDelete