politics -- enter at your own risk

[LilliesCarol]

It amazes me, after reading all your comments on food, how advertising a product on television has changed the way people perceive their diets and way of living. In 1939, (still in the great depression) our grade school served a hot lunch to each child. No one ever complained and in fact, were very glad to have some food to eat. We also got an iodine pill once a week. The pill was to help the thyroid, since living in the mid west we did not get enough sea food and many people suffered from large goiters. This was a government funded program. When WWII broke out, each child had to pay fifty cents a week for a hot meal each day, or else bring their own lunch. Money was needed for the war effort, so school funding was cut. Also, more parents began working in defense plants, which enhanced the family budget. There were no vending machines and soda pop, ice cream, candy etc., were all luxuries that if a child was good he/she might get a nickel or a penny for such a treat. I realize things may never go back to that era (the dark ages to most children), but we certainly did learn a great deal about proper eating habits. Which brings me back to my first statement, advertising, advertising, advertising. It has changed our eating habits completely.

[louiseh87]

Its not just advertising, although that plays a large part. Until I was about 10 I didn't know what coke tasted like. We never had fizzy drinks in the house so I never thought to drink them when I was thirsty. I get ginger beer for over Christmas and that's it.

Though, that said, I have never really watched TV channels with adverts. I did a bit as a child (just for the Saturday cartoons) but its amazing how much parental influence has.

[shadowwalker]

My son never had pop until he got into high school. Advertising didn't mean much as a child because he wasn't the one making the buying decisions.

But I remember the school lunches we had back in the 60s - I still gag.

[James A. Ritchie]

If advertising changes our eating habits, it's only because the advertised foods appeal to most people, and taste pretty darned good. It's new food products that have changed our eating habits, not the fact that the foods are advertised. When I was a kid, most of today's food didn't even exist, but fast food was just as popular then as it is now, if you lived in a place that had a fast food restaurant.

But whether it's fast food, sugary cereal, or you name it, people eat it because they like it, not because it gets advertised on TV. A person may try something because of an advertisement, but they won't keep eating it unless they really enjoy it.

And advertising has been around since long, long before TV. What wasn't around then was the technology to make all the foods we now have cheaply and quickly. People simply do not eat whatever it is they eat because it's advertised. They eat what they eat because they like the food.

I didn't grow up with pop in the house, either, but I also didn't grow up in a cave. By the time I was ten or eleven, I was old enough to go buy my own with money I earned. A Coke only cost five cents. So did a candy bar. Vending machines for pop started in the late thirties, but anyone who lived in a town of any size could find pop, cigarettes, and ice cream within a short walk. I grew up in a town of only one hundred people, and I could buy all three, plus candy, without going near a vending machine, and without walking more than a quarter of a mile.

You can't advertise something that doesn't exist, and advertising won't sell something that most people don't like. People have loved Coke since it was first created, and drank all sorts of naturally fizzy things long before this. All advertising does is tell you what's in a store, and may convince you to try it, but can't make you like it. And, honestly, most fast food is at least as healthy as those old home-cooked meals people love to talk about. I grew up eating home cooked meal, and there was always enough fat and cholesterol on the table to clog about a thousand arteries. The same was true at school. Everything was cooked in lard or bacon fat, fried foods were served at almost every meal, and breakfast alone could kill a horse.

Personally, I'm glad for all the food choices we have now, and I'm glad they advertise them. It beats walking around a giant supermarket trying to find something new.

[Anya Kylash]

The things I write are only light extemporania.
I won't put politics on paper; it's a mania!
So I refuse to use the pen in Pennsylvania!



Sorry, it had to be done. On soda pop, I've had it ever since I was a kid. My parents considered it a treat or a reward for good behavior.

[LMGilbert]

Advertising is not exactly neutral information, where they're educating us about the many choices of new products we now enjoy. It's not like they say, hey, here's a pile of overprocessed white flour, sugar and salt with chemical flavours, colours and preservatives, why not try this instead of an apple or a piece of cheese? It's more expensive for you, but way cheap for us to produce! That's why we can afford to pay all these skinny, flawless models to act as if they eat this crap all the time!

[rosebud]

I think a lot of people eat bad foods because they are cheap and easily available. There's a serious poverty problems going on now in America and few choices. People are going hungry. Don't be fooled by the fat lady using her food stamps to feed her family. The affordable foods are high in fat and sugar. The healthy foods have a short shelf life and are expensive.

It's not so much advertising making certain 'bad' foods attractive as it is the quantity vs. the quality of food choices. jmo

[Anya Kylash]

I totally agree, Rosebud.

Except some of the fat people here are just plain fat. Trust me.

[Jowen]

If advertising changes our eating habits, it's only because the advertised foods appeal to most people, and taste pretty darned good. It's new food products that have changed our eating habits, not the fact that the foods are advertised. When I was a kid, most of today's food didn't even exist, but fast food was just as popular then as it is now, if you lived in a place that had a fast food restaurant.

But whether it's fast food, sugary cereal, or you name it, people eat it because they like it, not because it gets advertised on TV. A person may try something because of an advertisement, but they won't keep eating it unless they really enjoy it.

And advertising has been around since long, long before TV. What wasn't around then was the technology to make all the foods we now have cheaply and quickly. People simply do not eat whatever it is they eat because it's advertised. They eat what they eat because they like the food.

I didn't grow up with pop in the house, either, but I also didn't grow up in a cave. By the time I was ten or eleven, I was old enough to go buy my own with money I earned. A Coke only cost five cents. So did a candy bar. Vending machines for pop started in the late thirties, but anyone who lived in a town of any size could find pop, cigarettes, and ice cream within a short walk. I grew up in a town of only one hundred people, and I could buy all three, plus candy, without going near a vending machine, and without walking more than a quarter of a mile.

You can't advertise something that doesn't exist, and advertising won't sell something that most people don't like. People have loved Coke since it was first created, and drank all sorts of naturally fizzy things long before this. All advertising does is tell you what's in a store, and may convince you to try it, but can't make you like it. And, honestly, most fast food is at least as healthy as those old home-cooked meals people love to talk about. I grew up eating home cooked meal, and there was always enough fat and cholesterol on the table to clog about a thousand arteries. The same was true at school. Everything was cooked in lard or bacon fat, fried foods were served at almost every meal, and breakfast alone could kill a horse.

Personally, I'm glad for all the food choices we have now, and I'm glad they advertise them. It beats walking around a giant supermarket trying to find something new.

Want something new, James? Try SexCereal. His and hers. No, I'm not kidding. Just seen on our supermarket shelves. Huh? Imagine the breakfast scene with some hubby and his missus silently munching their respective cereal, setting themselves up for a veeeery baaaad day. He's totally miserable at the office where the OOHA (object of his affections) hardly notices him, while at home the wife is frantically frazzled when the guy who was going to fix her furnace can't come. They paid $12 bucks for only two servings, for that?

And what does one say to the kids when they see it and ask what it is -- and can they have some?

[Valindyvista]

Wooo Hooo, Jowen. Are you saying this for real? Really? OMG how do I get some? Maybe Matt at 94 and me at 80 could put more spice in our life? You think? Any way, I don't think I'd want a gray haired baby!!!! AND THAT DEAR FRIENDS IS YOUR LAUGH FOR THE DAY.