WTF?

Posted on 11/25/2009 at 2:46 pm by Bob Cesca

One of the major goals following healthcare reform is banning shit like this:

There are so many things wrong with this commercial on so many levels. A kid acting like a doctor and explaining to other kids that Fruit Loops are good for you.

I’m not sure how we can seriously reform healthcare without getting a handle on the chemical sludge that corporations are passing off as “food.”

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  • Allonfla

    Should be illegal indeed. It’s actually quite infuriating. Uninformed shoppers will see that and think its okay to feed their growing children that crap every day.

  • El Mystico

    I forget if it was a Kellogs spokesperson or the woman at Tufts university who was in charge of the whole “Smarter choices” fiasco, but her defense of Fruit Loops being a ‘healthy’ choice was this: You’re in a grocery store, you’re in a hurry, you have a choice between a donut or fruit loops, so, obviously the ‘smarter choice’ seal would help you in that case. The case in which you’ve taken complete leave of your senses.My God, my child needs breakfast! What do I get them, a donut?! No, that’s insane! I’m totally loosin’ it! If only there was a misleading label to calm me down and help me make my breakfast choices!

  • Gottverdammt Klaus

    Bob,Aren’t you overreacting just a tad? Or do you really think there’s a tree somewhere in which elves diligently bake cookies?On the subject of a ban, can you possibly be serious? Bush removes the Fourth Amendment, and Bob Cesca wants to undermine the First.If parents can’t be bothered to instruct their children how to be and eat healthy, then they’re failures. Failures worth less than my right to the First Amendment.

  • Gottverdammt Klaus

    Uninformed shoppers will see that and think its okay to feed their growing children that crap every day.

    Key word being “uninformed”.By law, the nutritional information is on the box. It’s the shoppers’ responsibility to read it.To institute a ban in this case would be to subsidize ignorance. Forgive me, but I respect my fellow citizens too much to handhold them through the cereal aisle.

  • http://politicalpartypooper.wordpress.com/ Political Party Pooper

    Bob is an anti-fun-cerealite.

  • tikihoodoo

    Well, they’re already talking about banning the chocolate chip cookie dough cigar. Can the medicinal Froot Loops be far behind?

  • josh dobbin

    The issue with the normalization of unhealthy, processed foods is so systemic and such a lifestyle-choice of the parents that I don’t think any amount of advertising in either direction will really provide any impact.That said, making specific medical claims in advertising is what the government regulations are all about. A more effective commercial is “HEY KIDS! YOU KNOW WHAT TASTES AWESOME? IS FROOT-LOOPS! LOOK AT THIS SILLY TUCAN, HE’S FUCKING CRAZY FOR THEM!”But yeah– people who are out of shape and overweight or have poor eating habits refuse to see it as the lasting health-issue it is, because it isn’t affecting them acutely TODAY, or at the next meal, and it is easy to rationalize gratification in the moment. But more than that, they refuse, out of a sense of guilt or shame or willful cognitive dissonance, to see it as a failure to and for their kids.As a parent, one would hope that the conclusion that your health is no longer your exclusive property, but now belongs (and is a resource for) people that are more important than you would be self-evident.And further, that by normative example and availability, having real, healthy food being consumed in the house as a matter of habit is going to make their kids’ lives better and probably longer… but again, this is one of those things that isn’t an *immediate* payoff, so it easy for people to put the thought out of their heads, because, HEY, cheese-burgers and fries are tasty and EVERYBODY eats them, right?I think it is a matter of morality and rationality, which are both hard to a) legislate and b) get people convinced enough to do something about in their lives that is inconvenient.My kids don’t have McDonald’s food. I try to cook good, tasty, real food all the time, so they see that as the norm. We eat lots of fruits and vegetables, not as a chore but as a matter of course.When my mother in law comes over, she always brings a metric ton of shit-food (processed,boxed cookies, gummi-fruit-flavored shit) that gets tossed out as soon as she leaves.I think it really has to be a lifestyle choice and a life-decision.But that moment of clarity

  • http://cousinavi.wordpress.com cousinavi

    You can have my Cap’t. Crunch when you pry it from my cold, dead, sugar-coated fingers.On second thought…no. No, you can’t have my fucking Cap’t. Crunch. Fuck off. I’m taking it to the grave with me.And my Sugar Crisp, too. Come on and share with Sugar Bear, motherfucker!You TOUCH my Frosted Flakes, you’ll be tiger shit by sunrise.FREEDOM!The Giant Black Hole of Batshit Insanity: Palin + Bachmann

  • http://cousinavi.wordpress.com cousinavi

    Why do my linky links never work the first time?Maybe all that Cap’t Crunch makes my typing all jittery.The Giant Black Hole of Batshit Insanity: Palin + Bachmann

  • http://www.bobcesca.com Bob_Cesca

    Klaus wrote:>>>>>Bush removes the Fourth Amendment, and Bob Cesca wants to undermine the First.The First Amendment doesn’t protect things like slander, libel, or, in this case, fraud.

  • http://www.bobcesca.com Bob_Cesca

    Klaus also wrote:>>>>>>By law, the nutritional information is on the box. It’s the shoppers’ responsibility to read it.Did you know that some ingredients like the “natural flavors” and other items contain a list of New Jersey chemicals longer than the actual printed label ingredients? In other words, we have no idea what the hell we’re eating because food corporations aren’t required to list those sub-ingredients.And we’re putting these mystery chemicals in our bodies without any clue as to the extent of the long term side effects.Look, buy all the Froot Loops you want. Just don’t allow these corporations to lie to us and our kids. Make them properly label their food and to be honest about the health impact. That’s all.

  • danann

    I, SO agree with you

  • Gottverdammt Klaus

    The First Amendment doesn’t protect things like slander, libel, or, in this case, fraud.

    Indeed, and since the commercial could be considered fraudulent, there are state attorneys general already in place to address this; no need therefore to “ban” the commercial, which is what got my hackles up :)

  • Gottverdammt Klaus

    Did you know that some ingredients like the “natural flavors” and other items contain a list of New Jersey chemicals longer than the actual printed label ingredients? In other words, we have no idea what the hell we’re eating because food corporations aren’t required to list those sub-ingredients.

    I heartily agree with this, because I too favor making sure consumers (I hate that word!) all possible information. Like you, I avoid anything processed myself. However, aside from diabetes connection I’ve yet to see any scientific peer-reviewed studies demonstrating that we’re poisoning ourselves. The fact that Americans and their children are more sedentary strikes me as a far more serious problem.

  • http://www.bobcesca.com Bob_Cesca

    Klaus:>>>>no need therefore to “ban” the commercialSo lies should be allowed to flow freely into the marketplace and, only then, pulled/prosecuted after the fact?