High Fructose Corn Syrup Propaganda

So I have been seeing these new commercials on TV that are pushing the positives of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) . Who is running these adds one may ask…none other than the The Corn Refiners Association. They have launched a new campaign called “The Facts about High Fructose Corn Syrup“. Now I have been known to consume some of this sweetener, chances are most have, but this substance in not beneficial to the body in any way; furthermore, there have been some studies linking High Fructose Corn Syrup to diabetes and high cholesterol. This new campaign is a great example of how marketing can effect and dictate our consumption.

To people consuming HFCS, a commercial like this not only justifies their purchase while diminishing any doubt they had in the product, but admonishes their accountability if they or their family members develop health related issues. The fact is that High Fructose Corn Syrup is easy to produce, its cheap, and it prolongs the shelf-life of certain foods that probably should not be sitting out as long as they do. The Corn Refiners Association says that it is natural debating “well its made from corn” but the truth is that HFCS is made from fructose and glucose which are disaccharide where cane sugar and beet sugar are purely made of sucrose with is a monosaccharide; needless to say, neither is good for you but the simple sugars contributes less to obesity than the complex molecule. Unfortunately, in a country motivated to consume, and duped by branding and marketing, instead of educating the public about the potential negatives of HFCS, people are happily consuming because the Corn Refiners say “its all good”.These are the same market execs who told us that Thalidomide was safe and effective as a cure for morning sickness and look how good that turned out.

One could say that Marx’s Fetishism rings true in a situation such as this. People are depending on a relationship with a brand they trust and the company producing that brand is dependent upon the consumption of the product. There is a bit of Baudillard’s reciprocity in action here as well. All in all, one would hope that it is at the very least questionable that a company producing a substance that can be found in a variety of products would need to push a campaign that would reflect the substance in a positive light. If it was healthy for us and people were not performing experiments to test the potentials dangers of it then there would be no need for this High Fructose Corn Syrup propaganda.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Commercial

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