Taco Bell's PR campaign
I'll never forget the day in San Diego, in 2007, when I stopped into a Taco Bell (because I needed a bathroom) and saw its marketing banner touting "Fourth Meal," its bid to institutionalize a midnight...
View ArticleBefore state intervention, parental intervention
The theorizing has become reality: In July, a round of commentary (including mine) swelled after researchers suggested that foster custody might be preferable to bariatric surgery as a remedy for a...
View ArticleFood addiction, obesity, Coke, Kellogg's, and more
Tweets the deserve a longer moment in the sun:Surrendering just may save your life [RT from @wtpicketfence]Worst marketing practice of the week: Crayons functional kids’ drinks [RT from...
View ArticleYou have to cash in, don't you?
From Australia comes a report that athletes often don't endorse the junk food they endorse, but do it for the money.It's one of the reasons I'm glad I'm not sought as a product sponsor. I think it...
View ArticleWasted on pink slime
I've withheld comment on pink slime until now for shifting reasons, and I probably ought to shut up still, but the topic continues to flit across my screens.At first, I couldn't really get into it, and...
View ArticleFood and money
Perhaps it’s stating the obvious, but like just about everything else is capitalist America, money is at the center of our obesity crisis.For the food industry, the issue is profit, of course. In such...
View ArticleThe HFCS dodge: "Not worse" does not mean "not bad"
Under the headline, “Sweet News About Your Valentine’s Day Sweets,” a guest blogger at Corn Commentary discusses “misconceptions” about high fructose corn syrup while overlooking basic truth that ought...
View ArticleHFCS is "natural"; No, and so what if it was?
I started a trio of posts yesterday about a guest post at the maize-pimping website Corn Commentary that talks about "misconceptions" around high fructose corn syrup.read more
View ArticleHFCS threat wasn't its chemistry, it was its economy
This is the last in a trio of entries (Part 1, Part 2) about a guest blogger Sara Ross's post at the maize-pimping website Corn Commentary that talks about "misconceptions" around high fructose corn...
View ArticleFirst take on the Times's story on food industry manipulation
It isn't officially out until Sunday, but already, 5 people have sent me pointers to The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, which leads the New York Times Magazine this Sunday. I'll have...
View ArticleCareful what you say
It’s too facile to call it political correctness, but I noted a strong effort by some speakers at the Binge Eating Disorder Association’s national conference last weekend to say the right thing. Here...
View ArticleToo much, and not enough, in Atlantic junk-food story
My alert and studious friend Steve passed me this story from the Atlantic that springs from a familiar mold, taking the contrarian viewpoint on a reaction to orthodoxy. In this instance, the orthodoxy...
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