eTalks – The Secrets of Food Marketing
Thanks to Jill for putting me onto this. It’s an interesting short talk from Kate Cooper, a “marketing consultant to the food industry”, describing how marketing people cover up what’s really going on in order to trick us into buying products. The video was posted by a group called “Compassion in World Farming” – https://www.ciwf.org.uk
Kate says that there are three techniques that marketers use;
- Everyone believes what’s on the label
- Focus on progress (avoid the truth and make it look like progress is being made)
- You (the power of willful ignorance! – everyone is prepared to look the other way)
One example is that instead of saying that the product has come from a “concentrated animal feeding operation”, marketers label it as “farm fresh”. She also quotes that “50% of all antibiotics in the world are used on farmed animals”, which is quite shocking if true.
Related Links
- The Documentary Fresh
- The Natural Effect
Hi
my name is Eness.
First of all ive enjoyed watching the video, cuz this woman spoke the truth using knowledge and respect.
To be honest, i will probably never become veganist or any other kind. But what i am is careful when i use my money to buy food. The only day i would become vegan (this is the most extreme situation) is when there is no one who can delive me food that have been treated with respect during the whole proces of making it.
Now my opinion about this video is: I completly agree what K Cooper said in the video. but do you really think people will change there ways of buy and choosing only by telling them the truth? I think that most of the people will look away and keep doing what they do, cuz thats how most of the people are: they seek facilitation. In the other hand, what i whink that would help to solve this problem is: tell very sortly (like in this video) the problem, but atleast as important -> give an alternative solution. people are lazy, aslong as they dont recieve an other option whey will keep doing what they do, even if its bad..
Hopefully you understand my opinion, but most of all: hopefully this problem will be solved in the future.
Greetings
Hi Eness,
Thanks for your comment. I have a few comments in return.
(1) All the hype about being “vegan” often goes too far to me. It’s really just about eating plants and things derived from plants. Does someone have to be 100% vegan? No. But eating more plant based foods is a good idea for many reasons.
(2) You mention how people generally “seek facilitation”, and I realise that sometimes I’m “good” and try to do the right thing, but there are other times where I certainly take the easy route and seek facilitation. So I can’t judge what anybody else does. Hopefully, as a group, we’ll start doing more things that are good for us and the planet (and think this is already happening).
(3) And regarding “give an alternative solution, people are lazy”, I believe the alternative solution very simple. Almost everything that is advertised and we buy we don’t really need. We can live on less food and very simple foods, and we’d be healthier. So a very simple life would be cheaper and healthier, but it would be hard for most people to make that change given the pressures of advertising. It would be good for lazy people, but the fear of missing out and not fitting in will often win out.
All the best,
Peter.
Hi Peter!
1) yeah idd thats my opinion too, we should all eat more plants, but living on only plants isnt healthy nor needed i think,.. If i would help this project (more respect for the enviroment and protecting it) then it would be with the goal of respecting whats not mine, respecting what i eat even before it gets on my plate, respecting what my ancestors did for the world and respect the nature for those who will live after me. Cuz in the end a world without nature is a world without life (thus no humans).
2) sure, thats the way im too, i think its important for us self that we recognize this accept it and work on it, which isnt an easy process but worth it.. about the others, i didnt meant all people on earth are like that, but a lot of people are like that.. I work in the health care and im active in the sport world, so yeah im in contact with a lot of people, and most of them are like: as long as u dont give me a second option which solve (or atleast is less harmfull) then i shall not contribute. Ofcourse its there right and there opinion which i respect, but that means if we want to work on this problem then for this part of population we need to give them an alternative option which is ofcourse a better option. Well im sorry my friend but im kinda skeptical about that: i dont believe that the movement thats going on now about protecting the earth (solving the nature problems) are based on good funaments, those are in my eyes more a political way of manipulatiing the population for some reason (can be for not having to talk about the financial deficit of the country so they create other problems which becomes a hype like they did in France with ”charlie”). A huge problem also is that anything u want to do in that direction (about protecting and solving nature problems) cost a lot, sometimes even more then the health care. In other terms those problems can be solved in countries where the system is well of and they are financial stable. besides that, nature problems can only be solved if and only if most of the countries in the world contribute (for example: since years in europe they try to reduce the CO2 produce from cars, but the cars that pollute a lot are sended to 3th world countries like those in africa. Theat means the air in europe will be better within a few centuries but in the meanwile the air in africa (which was in the first place healthier that ours) will pollute a lot)
3) here u explained a huge problem that can and probably will hold us from solving nature problems: those with a lot of power and or a lot of money will (almost always) have the last word. and for them it isnt a good thing to spend money in the ecology cuz thats a expensive market with not a lot of profitable.. if we want to win this and have the last word then the biggest part of the population in each country (which are the employees) have to be behind this idea, striking will be an important way of negotiating with the rich population
Wish u the best!
PS: good reflections from you!
With kind regards,
Eness
Eness,
If you truly respect something then you wouldn’t kill it and then chop it up into bits in order to cook it and feed it to you’re a friends or family. There are some other things you should know. Meat is carcinogenic and so are eggs so you might as well give your kids cigarettes for breakfast, the meat industry is destroying the planet’s environment more so than all transportation as it’s byproducts amount to rainforests being destroyed to grow feed and the transportation of meat from one place to another as well as the waste of the animals causing dead zones in the sea and did you know that the longest drag net for fishing heard of was 70km long and so on and so on. There is no reason for any of us to eat meat again other than we have been brainwashed into thinking it is ok. Think for yourself and the ones that you love and make the right decision. The other thing I love about people talking about being vegan is a lot like talking about something aggressive and insulting in which case we need to make the term seem more societally accessible like “I love animals as I am one”?! What do you reckon?
Well i understand your point of view (i think), but that point of view is only applicable for those who see animals as friends or even closer: family member. If u respected the animal from since the birth with the intention of eating it, then u wont get such close with the animal. But my question is then: whats the purpose of animals on earth? just the same for plants?
Cuz lets pretend the whole humanity are veganists, that means that nobody kills any animals, one day or an other there will be too many animals which will eat too much, in other terms not enough nature for feeding them -> they die, or atleast a huge part. Besides that, a human body needs animal nutrients, whitout it -> the human body cant develop normaly, cuz then u get in a deficit of specific nutrients. the same goes for: you cant obligate animals to not eat plants (cuz they kill the nature by eating it) cuz then they will die or also wont develop normaly (with more ilnessess, more stillborn…)
About carcinogenic, if you prepare the meat on a right way (that starts with respecting the animal when its alive, till when it gets on your plate), then the risc of carcinogenetic is negligible. ofcourse if u choose to eat half baked (with still a bit of blood coming out of it), then yeah u got a bigger risc.. and carcinogenetic can be found in almost every food on earth (cuz of the way the industry prepare/cultivate it). and you even can have cancer without eating something carcinogenetic.. To be honest i dont agree with you about how bad meat is, compared with cigarettes. cigarettes are in a direct and indirect way destructive for the human body + they arent good for nothing, meat in the other hand ican be good for the human body, so they are not comparable.. to give u an example: how many people died from eating meat? and how many people died cuz of smoking cigarettes?…
i agree with you about how the industry destroyes the nature cuz of the way they work (like killing animals that are ill for then just throwing them away, rather then treating those animals..). I got the feeling u protect badly hard the animals, which i respect, but here u give only all mistakes the human being does against the nature, dot forget those informations: for example the cow produces between 70-120kg of methane per year, methane has an important impact on the global warming, just like CO2 but its even 23times worsers then CO2..
And finaly, im sorry again but i dont share that opinion with u about ”we are animals”, for me the animal and the human being are different in so many ways, if we really come from the apes then why does the apes in a zoo never transform into a human being? for me we are a living organisme that has similarities but also differences with any other living organism
But i got to say, i respect the way u protect the animals and the nature!
With kind regards,
Eness