High Fructose Corn Syrup new advertising campaign

[Andy Stanton]

Has anyone seen the commercials on television lately from the Corn Refiners Association touting the benefits of High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Here is their website they've been promoting on the commercials (and you can watch the ads): http://sweetsurprise.com

I teach advertising and my class will be discussing this ad campaign. I was wondering what you all thought of their tactics? Are they truthful? They make is sound like HFCS is the "nectar of the Gods" and just as healthy as natural sugar or honey.......what do you all think????

[Diana Young, RD, LD/N, CDE]

I had a post on HFCS a while back and here it is.

[Metroknow]

Just a quick update on my article, in the comment I already left: This article caught on fire via StumbleUpon, and had over 12,000 readers in a day. The visits lasted for about 2 minutes on average, which means I had an awful lot of visitors who actually read it.

I was excited not only for the bump in traffic, but mostly because the counter-message to the $30 Million dollar misinformation campaign is being heard! If you are a user of StumbleUpon, I'd appreciate the "thumbs up" to keep it going - the momentum was killed by a couple of users who attacked the server. . .Oh, the paranoia.... :)

[Dai]

I saw this ad for the first time last night. I was sick. I was particularly upset that a pop-cicle was used - a typical snack food marketed towards children. How much harder it will be now to convince our friends and loved ones who are not aware of the dangers of HFCS. The commerical is so disarming: a sweet, cute couple sharing a loving moment in a park. If I'm not mistaken, I remember that HFCS was even referred to as natural. How sad.

There is no couple/commercial cute enough to make me go back on my decision to stop eating HFCS.

When I was watching it, I thought about the story of Adam and Eve in the garden when Eve offered Adam the fruit, at first he refused, and then he ate. Now, I'm not super religious or anything, but I thought about this parallel... When Adam took the fruit from Eve they were banished from the garden and nothing really good came from that. How about that! In our HFCS commercial this new "Eve" offers her "Adam" a little HFCS - after he refused, then he ate - I don't think that anything good is going to come from that either.

[Metroknow]

I'm in the process of finishing up a 3 part series in response to these ads, which I found really offensive and misleading. The implication being that if you avoid HFCS, it is out of ignorance.

It was no surprise to me that the Corn Refiners Association is linked through their PR companies to Big Tobacco - same old tactics.

Here's a link to my articles if you are interested:
http://almostfit.com/2008/09/10/on-high-fructose-corn-syrup-and-wea...

[Lisa Nelson]

I wrote an article a while back titled - Corn, the root of all evil? - that's received more views than any other article I've wrote to date. Definitely a hot topic!

Needless to say, I'm not impressed with this ad campaign, no matter how cleverly they twist the facts!

Lisa Nelson, RD, LN
http://www.eNutritionServices.com

[summergirl]

i'm appalled at how sneaky the advertisers/growers?/chemists have become... on one hand their trying to protect their own pockets...... but.. in general I'm appalled at the commercial.. because the uneducated consumer will think that nothing is wrong with HFCS after seeing it...and be even deeper in the hole of illness or obesity; i put this commercial on par with drug advertising... the food/science industry's answer to ... "ask your doctor about __(insert popular drug name here)_____ today.".... except you can buy this one OTC. It's a new low.

[Eve]

The commercial states that HFCS is as healthy as sugar. For me the the answer is: Who said sugar is healthy? I don't eat foods with a lot of added sugar, either.

[Craig Maltby]

I know its late in the game for a comment. "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollen did not do HFCS or anything made from corn any good. It basically says corn has ruined the western diet is the a huge contributor to obesity.

Great topic for a marketing class. HFCS could be the next "transfat" on the public enemies list.