Monday, December 27, 2010

Advertising


You know what makes me feel angry and hopeless?  Large companies who only care about making money at the expense of humanity and the environment are controlling our entire country.  How has this happened?  Through the ignorance and indifference of our society!  These corporations don’t care that they are the cause of the American obesity epidemic or that millions of American soldiers have died for the country’s dependence on oil, all of which could have been avoided through the use of renewable energy (yes the resources do exist and have not been put in place because of large oil corporations controlling our government!)  All they see are dollar signs.  If you think that you function as a free person in the United States, I am sorry but you are horribly wrong.  The majority of decisions made in this country and, frankly, all over the world, is controlled by large corporations such as Phillip Morris and Mobile Exxon. 

Phillip Morris controls all of the largest food companies in America; these include Kraft, Nabisco, General Foods, chocolate companies, and coffee companies.  Can someone please tell me what a big name in the tobacco industry is doing owning the majority of our largest food companies?  Making money, that’s what they are doing!!!!  They don’t give a crap about nutrition and environmental impact, they want their billions of dollars in income.  The only way we can make them give a rats ass is if we refuse to give our money to them until they change their ways.  This is a challenge due to the fact that most Americans look at this movement and either think there is no way that they can make a difference or, even worse, believe that everything should remain the same.

These companies are masters of manipulation.  They contribute thousands of dollars to food banks and charities so that they can use these donations in their advertisements and make even more money from the consumer who has a bleeding heart!  They have control over the USDA and other nutrition companies so no one can recommend eating less food because these companies will refuse to fund the research.  Instead we read reports that tell us to “reduce” our consumption of harmful foods full of sugar and fats.  These companies even latched on to the health food movement by enriching their foods with vitamins and minerals but also upping the sugar contents in order to lower the fat content.  Most of these newly enriched foods should be considered as a small part of our diet but, because of brain washing advertising, they comprise the majority of the typical American’s diet.

If you would like to become one of the educated consumers in our society it is very simple.  Two movies I feel are appropriate are “Fuel” and “Food Inc.”  As for books Marion Nestle and Michael Pollan are good Authors to begin reading and there are plenty of blogs, the best being GRIST. 

Thank you for listening to me rant, go out and become one of the educated!