Company strategies and science behind cravings and food
“MOOOOOOOM!!!! I want those pringles and I want them now, and I need those kit-kat bars for later! Buy me them right now or I'm gonna cry and scream!! Please I'm gonna starve to death!!” Does this scenario seem familiar to you? No body wants their child to throw a temper tantrum in the snack aisle. What is it about certain foods so irresistible? Why does a piece of cheesecake make you feel like you're flying over the moon? If you've ever wondered this, well then thank god you have me! The answer is quite simple. 1) Food companies use scientific knowledge as a key for food engineering 2) They aggressively market their products to the younger generation. 3) They pre-plan details strategically.
In the food industry, the creation of a successful product comes down to the science behind it. Micheal Moss spent some years studying and investigating this. He found that they are actively researching the connection between the taste receptors on your tounge and the corresponding chemical reaction in your brain. Frances maglone experimented putting someone into this brain imagining machine and dropped chile on his tounge every 38 seconds, and as he did this, his brain released dopamine, which are feel good chemicals. So during his investigation he found that the brain is fascinated with a mix of different sensations: take a ferroche rocher chocolate as an example, first we have the outside shell which is composed of roasted hazelnuts, followed by a thin layer of wafel, then the buttery smooth chocolate filing, and finally to seal the deal we have a whole hazelnut. As we eat this, we crunch through the outside, and then we are greeted by the plush creamy inside, and then a crun...
... middle of paper ...
...ike feet? There is science behind foods and why they make healthier alternatives seem unpalatable and unappetizing. Companies are making evident and steady efforts to make their products appeal to kids, and we are underestimating the tactics that they use to achieve their primary goal: have their products flying off the shelves. So here's the science and here's the information, SO WHAT? Well, cravings take control of us. They affect our health. They affect what we do with our money and where we spend our time. By giving into these cravings we are surrendering control of a part of our lives. We need this information exposed so we can take control of our lives, to invoke high levels of change, and make more informed decisions. so today, science is not about facts and studies, but about power. It's about asserting that we are under our own control. Thanks for listening
...College students are the next generation of food consumers just starting to purchase and prepare their own food, setting purchasing habits that will follow them into their lives as they start their own careers. These habits will shape what food is in demand, and therefore what food is produced. Not only do college students hold financial power over the future economy, but they must make the decision of whether to become the next unhealthy generation, that will also indoctrinate their children to accept the level of food quality that is currently labeled as junk food as a standard level quality of food.
There should be limit’s that stop’s food companies from promoting themselves as appealing when in reality their food products are a hazard to our bodies. As Barboza states in his article “There is a need to set specific standards on what is marketed to children…” we are in agreement that, what ever kids see on T.V. or being marketed, they want it! As a child I remember that I wanted many things I saw on T.V. like Carl's Jr, Lucky Charms, Mcdonald's, Gushers, ect… When eating these food products, as you get older it affects your health. A good
Food companies do whatever they can in order to promote their product even though they are full of salts, sugar, and fats according to the Monell Science Center. These industries engineer their food products so as to target your taste buds and cause you to crave for more. The end goal of businesses is to make as much money as possible while giving what the customers really wants---junk food. Moss continued by explaining an experiment between two groups of children raised on grocery foods and on home cooking. The results showed that kids who grew up with grocery foods craved foods that were salty or sugary compared to the other group who did not have this
The processed food we eat has many chemical additives that mislead our scenes, which are actually mascaraing the manufacturing process of the food industry. Eric Schlosser does an excellent job proving this fact in his report “Food Product Design”. His arguments point out that fast food industries main goal is to entice you with a brand of flavor that you eventually will be addicted to. Subsequently over the last fifty years the flavor industry has manipulated the population into spending 90 percent of the money that they spend on groceries, to ensure they are buying branded processed food. In effect these corporations are employing scientific research and a human beings natural instincts and scenes to persuade us into eating their certain brand of food.
of Philip Morris, said “People could point to these things and say, ‘They’ve got too much sugar, they’ve got too much salt […] well, that’s what the consumer wants, and we’re not putting a gun to their head to eat it. That’s what they want.” (Moss 267) However, consumers are being unconsciously forced to fund food industries that produce junk food. Companies devote much of their time and effort into manipulating us to purchase their products. For instance, Kraft’s first Lunchables campaign aimed for an audience of mothers who had far too much to do to make time to put together their own lunch for their kids. Then, they steered their advertisements to target an even more vulnerable pool of people; kids. This reeled in even more consumers because it allowed kids to be in control of what they wanted to eat, as Bob Eckert, the C.E.O. of Kraft in 1999, said, “Lunchables aren’t about lunch. It’s about kids being able to put together what they want to eat, anytime, anywhere” (Moss 268). While parents are innocently purchasing Lunchables to save time or to satisfy the wishes of their children, companies are formulating more deceiving marketing plans, further studying the psychology of customers, and conducting an excessive quantity of charts and graphs to produce a new and addictive
Advertising for fast food disproportionately targets children, obesity rates are going up, there are labs dedicated to creating food flavors, and the cleanliness of the restaurants where the food itself is served is questionable. The negative impacts the fast food industry has on the world have their roots in biology. The taste of the food is engineered to appeal to our taste buds, and after the access to fast food increased, our bodies began to crave it. Clearly, the fast food industry must undergo significant change to ensure its impact on the world is a positive one. It’s imperative that this change must be made within the near future, should the mass consumption of unsanitary food be prevented, and ensure that cheap food is somewhat
The sole purpose of a company is to offer goods and services while making a profit. If people have a liking for food products with so many unhealthy items and are willing to buy them, the companies have no obligation to reduce the amount of added ingredients. The companies aren’t the ones forcing the public to overeat. However, these companies shouldn’t market their products to people who they can easily exploit, like children and those who are penurious. Michael Moss, author of the article “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” interviews several people who worked for certain big brand companies and gives us an abundant amount of information on how the food companies make and market their food to “get us hooked”.
For years, I have been eating what I want. Food choices are a significant factor that affects our health. What we like or crave, often, is the determining variable in what we eat. Finding the right balance of food choices is the key factor in improving our health benefits. Choosing nutrient-dense foods will provide more nutritional value than foods that are found to be low in nutrient density. Making the right choices in foods, however, is extremely difficult. Often, I find myself enthralled in the latest fad, not considering the subtext of the foods I am eating, such as nutrients, vitamins, healthy fats and unhealthy fats, cholesterol and minerals. The diet project underlined a three-day food entry intake that provided a dietary analysis report
Eating the pizza instead of the salad seemed like a good idea at the time, but now one is stuck in this sloth like state hours later. It seems letting cravings control what and how to eat is not the best strategy to healthy living. Mary Maxfield, in her article “Food For Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Food” discusses her views on how people should eat. She believes people crave what their bodies need, therefore, people should eat what they crave. Maxfield claims that diet, health, and weight are not correlated with each other, and because of this, people view obesity as unhealthy, thus forcing them to distinguish “right, healthy” foods from the “wrong, unhealthy” choices. As a result, she concludes that science has nothing to do with
The seventh grade health curriculum at Wayne Central teaches that foods are either gold, silver, or bronze; representing healthy, okay, and unhealthy retrospectively. This information is accompanied by instruction to not eat bronze foods and eat silver foods sparingly. Education that gives strict, polarized, definitions of food can cause adolescents to become pre-occupied with what they eat and dissatisfied with themselves. Welch, McMahon, and Wright conducted a study on the ways nutrition and health have become increasingly influential to children’s everyday behaviors and conceptualizations of food. The study included an interview of 32 primary students in which the children were asked, “What does health mean to you?” Students’ answers indicated extensive consideration was given to classifying foods as ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’. All students, except one who answered “protein”, defined “healthy” or “good” foods as fruits and vegetables, well omitting mention of other essential food groups. Sugar, fat, and “junk” food such as chips, cookies, and cake were among answers describing ‘bad’ or ‘unhealthy’ foods. “In the interviews the consumption of the ‘wrong’… food was always regarded as dangerous and transgressive, signifying ‘bad’ or ‘sinful’ practices…. The consistency and intensity of this message shapes the thoughts of individuals in ways that can conjure up feelings of shame and disgust” (Welch et
For scientist to come up with food science and figured out the micronutrients of foods is impressive but very concerning when a reporter no longer eats processed foods after doing a report on them. Most consumers just want to eat what taste good to them and not the healthy factor of eating, today 's science shows that sugar is more addicting than most drug and cigarettes. This could be yet another example of how food science has changed what we put in our refrigerators and what we believe is healthy foods. Pollan states," Yet as a general rule it 's a whole lot easier to slap a health claim on a box of cereal than on a raw potato or a carrot, with perverse result that the most healthful foods in the supermarket sit there quietly in the produce section, silent as a stroke victims, while a few aisles over in Cereal the Coco Puffs and Lucky Charms are screaming their newfound "whole grain goodness" to the rafters. Watch out for those health claims." Meaning that what we think is healthy because of food science saying it has nutrition factors in it could be doing more harm than
Food is a major part of everyone’s everyday life. It’s hard to imagine life without the chocolate cake on your fingers or a carne asada taco in your mouth. Enjoying delicious desserts and fast food seem extremely magnificent to eat and spend money buying them. Although, there have been many controversies in the United States on how it’s the largest country with the most obesity regarding children, which affects their health, many people are still going throughout their day snacking. Many people in America are having full course meals with thousands of calories in one sitting not knowing the short term or long term side effects that are going to take a huge toll on their lives. Food is delicious, but it comes with a secret behind the savoriness/sweetness.
When children between the ages of 10 and 12 walk into a food store, they don't know that they should go look for the healthier food, but they go towards the unhealthy aisles due to the lack of knowledge. On the other hand, children who would understand what type of additives are put into their food will choose more wisely. People may think that this education will have no use in influencing children at this age, but after I conducted a survey, the results show that children between the ages of 10 and 12 begin to make and choose their own food. In order to complete the survey, I attended two schools located in Sacramento, Wilson C. Riles and Spinelli Elementary. I interviewed 40 12-year-olds, 40 11-year-olds, and 35 10-year-olds with the same question, “ do you make and/or Choose your own food?”
Nestle, discloses information on public policy, how the food industry is one of the largest and most powerful industries, making profits of $1.3 trillion dollars on an annual basis. The article covered information on school food as well as strategies for change. Change can only come with cooperation and unity. In the meantime, children can be introduced to healthy foods and taught about the consequences of junk food (processed foods). Nestle, M. (2002).
Starting from a young age in most families children are told that they need milk and meat to survive and to live a long, healthy life. It’s repeated over and over that the best protein source is meat and the only way to get calcium is from milk. Common foods for toddlers include chicken strips and macaroni and cheese. Kids are targeted with ‘Happy Meals’ from McDonalds and ‘King Jr. Meals’ from Burger King. By the time we reach adulthood, we are brainwashed to believe that we need their products to survive or that using them