Repeat. After. Me.

Further to my previous post regarding the health and fitness industry and the questionable advice dished out through advertising agencies to us the 'consumer' I happened to remember a series of documentaries broadcast at the turn of the year on the BBC.  They were of course on later in the evening and generally at the same time as some other distraction television.  It was called 'Food That Makes Billions', a small three part documentary about yogurt- 'Pots of gold', cereal- 'The Age of Plenty' and bottled water- 'Liquid Gold'.

For any one that watched it I am sure they would be shocked by the insight into the way these advertising and marketing firms manipulate us. I would like to think that there are people out there who are aware on some level they are being manipulated but they do not know the full extent.  The rest however are blissfully unaware and feel that ignorance is bliss.

'The Age of Plenty'- the cereal episode exposed horribly the way we have been manipulated by advertising and marketing firms into believing we do not have enough 'time' for a decent breakfast, the most important meal of your day.

Back in the 1950's an advertising campaign was taken up called 'go to work on an egg a day' with a man having a cooked breakfast consisting of egg and toast.  This soon changed with cereal firms taking up the mantle and rolling out a host of adverts where they portrayed people as being too busy to have the 'time' for a cooked breakfast but could get around this by 'simply pouring milk into a bowl'.  An important step was to market this towards children, the children of today are the adults of tomorrow. This gave birth to such gems as 'Tony the Tiger' with his catchy little phrase and the three little rascals known as 'Snap, Crackle and Pop'.  Enticing children with toys plays a huge part also, usually in line with the latest Disney or Pixar release.  The scandalous way cereal was marketed to the children, our parents, is breathtaking.

This kind of advertising generates an emotional link to their products.

The emotional link is what secures the continued sales in future generations, the parents and grandparents affinity to the advertising slogans or catchy jingles or tunes,  continue the tradition of a cereal based breakfast as the memories come flooding back. It is alleged that 97% of people's pantries will contain a box of cereal.  Have a look in your pantry, are you contributing to this modern day success story? Thirty pence??? for a kilo of corn, £3.00 for a kilo of cornflakes? That's some mark up.

Repeat after me..... "they'rrrrreee Great!" or would you "rather have a bowl of co-co pops"?

These cereal firms are making a huge profit on the back of misinformation at best to the consumer.  The health benefits of things such as Bran flakes etc are extremely over stated, and what could be better for you than a bit of carbs and protein for breakfast.  Not to worry however, the breakfast cereal firms have already spied the potential for revenue increase in the breakfast bar market.  There have already been a line of adverts on television now portraying the illusion that we no longer have the 'time' to pour milk into a bowl of cereal.

This constant myth surrounding life styles is a common theme around the marketing and advertising industry.  It is not the product they market, rather the perceived lifestyle that is associated with it.

'Liquid Gold'- the episode about the billion pound bottle water industry highlighted the fact that the bottle water industry is now worth over £2billion a year.  Incredible when you think it all started with a bottle of Perrier back in the 1980's.
My disdain for bottled water is well documented and this episode was another one in a long line of documentaries that exposes the myth behind the bottled water industry.
Lifestyle, as I mentioned earlier, is the key to the marketing campaign.  Perrier focused on the 'yuppie' boom of the 1980's.  The sleek design of the bottle oozed a certain class, a continental way of life and people started to associate this way of life with the bottle.  Restaurants up and down the country rushed to stock the brand and a juggernaut began.

The Health and Fitness industry jumped on the band wagon and marketing teams up and down the country helped to reinforce the message that "bottled water is good for you" by endorsing an endless list of celebrities to pose with bottles, post work out, trying to convince us of the benefits of the bottle over the tap.  More recently the shameless 'bouncing babies' Evian advert tried to reinforce it's message of "evian, live young".

Bottle water is no better for you than tap water.  They created a need that was not there.

Drinking water full stop is good for you.  We are made up of over 70% water to begin with!  It helps to reduce the signs of age by hydrating your skin, it hydrates the brain and drinking water can help to burn fat if you have an active life style.

You can get this water from the tap and a lot cheaper too.

The bottle water industry, in conjunction with health and fitness 'experts' have managed to convince us that if we do not carry a 2litre bottle of water around with us all day we will shrivel up and die.
This is a nonsense.


Creating a need that was not there.  Genius really.

If only Del Boy had of thought of bottling tap water he would have been a millionaire a lot sooner...oh wait, there was a Christmas special one year where he did just that and the UK fell about laughing.  Who's laughing now?

'Pots of Gold'- the episode about yogurt.  Where do you start?  I have referenced the perceived lifestyles attached to products which is the reason why they sell.  Yogurt, and initially in the early days, the brand 'Ski' were brilliant for this, families on the alpines, water skiing etc.  An all action lifestyle courtesy of the goodness of yogurt....or so the myth goes.  The 90's saw the Muller brand going for a sophisticated look, using people such as Joanna Lumley to sell the idea of yogurt with their adverts on their sugar filled pots.

The yogurt industry took a hit recently when certain brands claiming immune system support were put through rigorous health tests courtesy of the pharmaceutical industry.  The cynic in me may think that there was an ulterior motive for the pharmaceutical companies doing this but the end result was that there were no proven benefits from taking certain brands and so the advertising campaigns they had made their name on had to be changed.  The yogurt companies lodged their complaints stating that they should not be tested to the same standard as medicine but if you are claiming medicinal benefits, what is the problem? Unfortunately the damage had already been done.

Repeat after me "Have you had your actimel?"

Yogurt has come a long way since the 1980's and being viewed as a sour after dinner snack.  It is now hailed as the healthy alternative snack, the immune system saviour and a guilt free ride for after dinner eating.
Personally I do not see what the problem is with an apple (or piece of fruit other) or even some cream/ice cream from time to time if you want something after your dinner?  Everything in moderation after all.

Some of the topics mentioned here I have mentioned before.  If you are reading this then you are probably the converted (especially with bottled water)  If not then I have added some video links at the bottom, some adverts, some t.v clips,  take some Earth minutes to view them.
Think about them.
There are also two documentaries on bottled water.  It is important because globalisation is a fact.  We are all intrinsically linked as humans and how we consume, here today, affects people elsewhere and our children of tomorrow.

Do not take my word for it, find out for yourselves and question everything.  The question is how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGr5y2tNoqM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elhe6-rlUeg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ef0dWD9ccc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eExHIzBKRU0&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy0PH36YHJQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q--Sh8zyKv4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNQi0CIgncc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auEbIXPuahU
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2010/12/101215_food_that_makes_billions.shtml
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/blue-gold-world-water-wars/
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/tapped/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY