Sweet Surprise Parody
This video shows what the Sweet Surprise commercials would be like if they weren’t obscuring all of the facts about High Fructose Corn Syrup. I’m sure I’ll be hearing from a lawyer about this one. If I do get contacted by lawyer for the Corn Refiners Association I will consider it an admission on their part that everything in this video is pure fact. Also, if you sue me, I will kick you. Now that we know where everyone stands let’s have a little fun shall we:
Fun Fast Food Facts with Soda and Burger
Here’s a cartoon that cuts through the conjecture surrounding fast food and how healthy it is or isn’t. It’s an adult discussion:
[ad] Empty ad slot (#1)!
SNL Takes Shot At HFCS Commercials
Since it first aired in the 1970’s Saturday Night Live has tackled issues the regular media won’t touch. From time to time they have also been guilty of trading their ethics in order to advance their personal political agendas (especially the past four or five years). But they still occasionally take on “the man” on controversial issues.
Recently SNL spoofed those highly unethical Sweet Surprise disinformation commercials the folks at the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) lobby put together in an attempt to confuse the general public about the ever increasing dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup (aka HFCS, aka Corn Syrup). This is not only a big deal because it is the first real attention the national media has given to the issue but also because it seems to buck at SNL’s recent trend of blindly supporting the Obama Administration regardless of its obvious failures in certain areas.
You see, Monsanto and other large agribusiness companies (the ones who profit from HFCS) were among the largest contributors to the Obama candidacy. In return for their financial backing they were rewarded by getting to put their own people in charge of the government agencies that are charged with regulating them. The number of agribusiness lobbyists now operating within this administration is staggering with the two most notable moles being USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and FDA Food Czar Michael Taylor. The result is that neither department can be considered reliable anymore.
I was recently at an event with a number of food writers. Most worked directly for large publications. They related tales of how food writers were being harassed by Sweet Surprise anytime they wrote something unflattering about HFCS. If they wrote an opinion column they were hit with libel suits. If they dared to publish any of the mountains of scientific research that reveals the truth about HFCS they are getting buried with cease and desist orders and other frivolous ligation.
From a legal standpoint none of these suits have a leg to stand on. Opinion columns (like this one) are just that, a statement of opinion and are Constitutionally protected. And it has never been a crime to print scientific results. That isn’t the point, CRA knows they don’t stand a chance of winning any of these suits. The point is to harass the parent organizations into telling their food writers to just leave well enough alone. It is litigious terrorism.
Well, chalk one up for the good guys:
HFCS Producers Revamping Disinformation Ads
The Corn Refiners Association, makers of those humorous but scientifically unfounded “Sweet Surprise” commercials are changing their approach. In their first barrage of commercials meant to confuse the public about the many harmful effects of their product, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), they ran ads featuring two attractive 30-somethings engaging in a conversation that went something like this:
Actor 1: You want a soda?
Actor 2: Are you kidding? That has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. You know what they say about that stuff right?
Actor 1: No what?
Actor 2: Er, uh. [shrugs]
The gist of those first commercials was that if you didn’t know about the dangers that extensive scientific research has uncovered about the effects of HFCS on the human body then it must not exist. That’s a heck of an argument to make about the safety of your product isn’t? “Oh, you didn’t know that Duke University research indicates HFCS leads to liver ailments similar to those suffered by long term alcoholics and that a Princeton study has found that subjects that consume HFCS show considerably more weight gain than those who consume an equal amount of table sugar? Well, then it must not be true since you didn’t know about it.”
Since putting the big bucks into those ads meant to confuse the facts, the Corn Refiners Association has seen some disturbing results – for them anyway. The public wasn’t fooled and food manufacturers are responding to the cry for foods without HFCS. Hunt’s Ketchup is now the only major ketchup brand to not contain HFCS. The Jones Soda Co., makers of premium carbonated soft drinks, does not use HFCS in any of their products. Jones even has a list of links to the multitude of scientific research that debunks the claims of the HFCS manufactures that their product is safe and natural.
Then the big bomb was dropped this past summer. Dr. Pepper, one of the most popular soft drinks in the US, announced in a July press release that to celebrate their 125th anniversary that they were replacing HFCS with sugar. Other factors have lead to soft drink makers to move away from HFCS and back to sugar like proposed changes to SNAP program regulations that would prohibit food stamps from being used to purchase soft drinks. This is long overdue.
With the failure of their Sweet Surprise campaign they have shifted gears but are still employing the same tactic of subversive disinformation. Their first move, as reported by AP, is that they are changing the name of High Fructose Corn Syrup to Corn Sugar. This clever ploy will allow products to claim they have no HFCS when in fact they do.
They have asked for an official name change from the FDA. They even went and started a new web site www.cornsugar.com. Too bad because the FDA already has an established definition for corn sugar and it is not the same as HFCS. No doubt, having an inside man in the FDA (Obama-appointed, Monsanto-lobbyist Michael Taylor) will undoubtedly lead to a redefining of the phrase “corn sugar.”
The new commercials feature actors pretending to be concerned parents who are confused about the effects of HFCS. They plug the disinformation web site and even pretend that the scientific information listed there is from independent sources rather studies paid for by the the Corn Refiners Association to produce favorable findings.
I would like to post one of those commercials here for you but for some reason the Corn Refiners Association doesn’t want these commercials being embedded on other sites. That seems odd that you want your message getting out there and here someone is willing to put your commercial on their site for free and you refuse to let them. Kind of leaves you wondering what they are hiding doesn’t?
If you want to view the new spot you can venture over to the youtube and check the HFCS Disinformation Ad out yourself and do what I did – vote it a thumbs down and then flag it for being a scam. Or don’t, suit yourself.
