Recently in class we watched King Corn. A film about two guys who decide to grow corn on an acre of land for a year to see the whole process of exactly what happens to corn from start to finish. In the film they discovered that a major part of the corn crop goes to making high fructose corn syrup. This syrup is used in a wide variety of products. In fact, if you go down to the local gas station or walk through a grocery store, a majority of the food there contains this corn syrup. Even the beef we eat is most likely corn fed beef. This might not be so disconcerting if this high fructose corn syrup was good for us. However, our bodies can't break down large quantities of this syrup. Since its in a large quantity of our foods we have a high intake of it. This disturbed me. If you look at a majority of the juices or sodas you will find that it contains high fructose corn syrup. Statistics show that if you drink one pop a day you are two times more likely to get diabetes that someone who doesn't drink much pop. This is due to partially to the corn syrup. That's a scary fact.
After class I went home and turned on the tv. As if to combat the information I just saw in king Corn a commercial came on. The commercial was a couple sitting in a park. The woman offers the man a bit of a pop sickle and he says, "I thought you loved me." So she said then have two bites. The man says, "don't you know that has high fructose corn syrup in it? You know what they say about high fructose corn syrup don't you?" "No, what do they say?" He doesn't have a response, showing he really doesn't know a whole lot about it. So she goes on to explain that its a cheap substitute to sugar and that its ok for you in moderation. Now given what I just saw in the movie this is kind of ironic. Ok so its good for you in moderation, but its in most of our products. We consume large amount of corn syrup with out consciously knowing it. What does that mean? How can I consume high fructose corn syrup in moderation when its in so many products?
This just shows you the efforts of a company to keep up its profits. The public is leery about high fructose corn syrup so they have to put out a video to convince consumers its ok. The market can been so manipulative its scary. This commercial definitely cries out for the empire, trying to convince the consumption of high fructose corn syrup. If you don't pay attention they will pull the wool over you eyes.
Here's the commercial:
Update (rob vg-r): Here's a response from the King Corn guys:
It’s true that commercial was crying out for the empire. The “King Corn” film made me realize that even our food is a commodity to the empire and that they don’t care if our food can harm us. I also realized while reading your article and watching the commercial that was added to your article that before I watched the “King Corn” film I wouldn’t of known what high fructose corn syrup was, so I wouldn’t of cared if high fructose corn syrup was harmful or not. Also I wouldn’t have even thought that there was something wrong or deceiving about the commercial, but now I would notice because of the class we are taking. The empire is telling the public it’s alright to eat a moderate amount of this syrup, but what they aren’t telling is that this syrup is in many of our food, so it is difficult to avoid this syrup. I thought your article was very interesting and thoughtful.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's pretty scary how the empire will sell anything to us. They will do anything to make money, even if this ends up giving us all diabetes. If we don't change our eating habits in America we are going to have even more health problems as if we don't already have enough. While our bodies are rotting the producers are trying to sell us more crap. Now they are telling us that the crap they are selling us is okay and it's not something we should be afraid of, but then again they aren't telling the whole truth. Yes, this food that is bad for us is okay in small amounts but they don't inform us that it is in almost everything they sell to us. I think in a way that is still lying to us.
ReplyDeleteFantastic post, Tyler! Discernment begins when we can start recognizing the stories that are competing for our imaginations.
ReplyDeleteI like the ad that the King Corn guys have to respond to the pro high fructose corn syrup one. I have seen the original advertisement for the high fructose corn syrup. I thought that it was so stupid because I had some prior knowledge when it came to knowing about it. I like at the end when she says it's okay in moderation. Before for that the girl laughs at him like he is stupid or something. The irony is that at the end it says get the facts you're in for a sweet surprise. The surprise is that there is no nutritional value. That it is in soda and people are getting diabetes like crazy these days. I agree with Jessica, it does feel like they are lying to us when we are not given the facts.
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