I've been trying to make a conscious effort to cut back on my intake of High Fructose Corn Syrup for awhile now, although I'll admit I sometimes just want a nice, refreshing Coca-Cola.
But in all seriousness, I know HFCS is TERRIBLE and another chemical cause of obesity and health problems.
I try to use natural sugars or honey in most of the food that I make at home. If the day ever comes when I have children, I know I will be on hyper-healthwatch just because of all the crap that's in processed food.
Anyway, it really bothered me when those HFCS "public awareness" campaign ads hit the air a few months ago. I don't think it took a public relations major like myself to see right through those saccharine (pun intended) attempts at telling consumers that HFCS is nothing to worry about. A healthy assumption to make is that if there is an advertisement (or a inexplicable slough of articles) telling you something is perfectly natural and okay for your health -- it probably isn't. This is why I've always had a problem with Splenda as well. I know it's been very helpful for people with diabetes, but at the end of the day the tagline: "don't think sugar, think Splenda®" really creeped me out. I don't think replacing a natural substance with something manufactured in a lab is EVER okay.
Luckily there are other folks who think like me, and the movement is growing. I saw this adorable DIY ad posted on another blog I found through the EatLocalChallenge. Even though my eating local attempts didn't succeed to the point I had hoped, I do commend challenges like this for connecting like-minded people.
Watch the video and enjoy:
And for your reference, here's the original creepy ad campaign:
Of course the conspiracy theorist in me also suspects there's some covert targeting of African-Americans in the original ad, which opens that whole can of worms of institutionalized racism regarding food choices available to black communities. My friend Nicole had great personal insight into this dilemma in her blog a couple of months ago. She's since moved from Oakland.
My point is this problem is way deeper than a couple of YouTube videos.
awesome post. I had seen the original creepy one but not the spoof. I've also played around with the eat local thing with varying success. Someone suggested i allow things from states my state touches but considering how many surround Tennessee i feel like that's about useless.
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