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High-Fructose Corn Syrup Ads

Anyone else is little freaked by these ads from the Corn Refiners Association? (Serious Eats has a short editorial about it. And the NYTimes has one too today.)

Yes, sure, the CFA has a right to defend themselves against the recent “corn-attacks". And yes, the ads are kind of smart in that if you actually ask the average person why they shouldn’t eat high fructose corn syrup they probably wouldn’t be able to give you the medical run down of the evils of HFCS. [Twinkie, Deconstructed broke it down nicely/grossly.]

But still the ads are so blatantly, creepy.

What do you think?
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Jenny said…
I completely agree with you. It made me feel kind of like I do when I read all those "peanut farmers of America" ads right next to a recipe featuring peanut butter in food magazines.

How anyone can say HFCS is good for you is really kind of beyond me!
1:38 PM, September 12, 2008
Kerrie @ TFK said…
The ads bother me a lot. All the people I know who avoid HFCS have reasons why they do it. The ads make those that avoid it seem that they aren't that bright or just bandwagoning.

I'm still lost on how HFCS is considered natural.
7:22 AM, September 13, 2008
Abby said…
Those ads infuriated me! It sent me straight on my own personal mission to at least tell all my friends and family about the awful truth of HFCS and their refiners association!
12:36 PM, September 13, 2008
Karen said…
As a person who is allergic to corn sugar, I REALLY take offense to the ads. I spend so much time avoiding it in all its forms, but especially HFCS. I don't see anything redeeming about it. I was hoping that the use of corn in alternative fuels would steer food manufacturers away from it as the cost is going up, but apparently not!

Karen herself
www.herselfgluten-free.blogspot.com
4:32 PM, September 14, 2008
Angie said…
Oh my god! Full page ads in the NY Times! And their claim that it's nutritionally similar to table sugar - what nutrition?!

Angie http://gluten-dairy-sugarfree.com
6:56 PM, September 14, 2008
Allergic Girl® said…
thanks for weighing ladies!

(full page ad in the NYT?! wow they've spent bucket loads on this campaign)
7:01 PM, September 14, 2008
Adrienne said…
I just saw my first HFCS ad the other day. I was BAFFLED. And also terrified.
10:37 AM, September 16, 2008
Unknown said…
I absolutely agree with you. I have family members with HFCS allergies and it is frustrating to see marketing pieces that blatantly disregard all of the health problems associated with HFCS consumption.
11:14 AM, September 16, 2008
Stacy said…
I don't usually watch TV, but did so on vacation last week and saw two of these commercials on TVLand. Creepy is by far the best word to describe them.
11:34 AM, September 16, 2008
Unknown said…
My partner and I are totally creeped out by those ads. As if we've somehow offended the corn...
2:10 PM, September 16, 2008
Unknown said…
It's more proof that the advertising world and various people in the food industry think that the general population is a bunch of morons who will eat BS (in the form of HFCS here) if they spoon feed it to us. Sorry but they will never convince me or my family otherwise - never, never, never.
3:01 PM, September 16, 2008
Nelson Melle said…
They are so unbelievably wrong. My husband and I just looked at each other speechless. So so sad!
3:50 PM, September 16, 2008
KetoCook said…
My son's formula is made with HFCS. I can't really get around it. It is the only dairy/soy free formula that he can drink. But those adds are crazy. I couldn't believe it when I first saw them. Why would they say that it is healthy for people? For us, it is better than dairy or soy, but we wouldn't use it for our son if we had another option.
4:23 PM, September 16, 2008
Kaitlin said…
As a person who is allergic to corn, and has avoided HFCS at all costs for years-- It is amazing to me that more people don't know just how crappy that stuff is for you. I was totally offended that the tone of the commercial was so flip. It reminded me of those smoking commercials from the 40s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhvHB62ph8&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI&feature=related
8:57 AM, September 17, 2008
Auntie Dis said…
I wholeheartedly agree with the creepiness of these ads. I kind of scoffed when I saw the first one, but the more I see them, the more I'm like "What are we coming to?"
11:30 AM, September 17, 2008
freebox said…
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was appalled by this high fructose corn syrup lovefest! (Which reminds me, a funny thing I saw once in a middle school teacher's lounge was a pro-sugar ad from the 1970's.)

Corn syrup good for you? Yeah right! In what lifetime? Pu-leeez!
12:50 PM, September 17, 2008
bkla said…
I've been avoiding HFCS for quite awhile now, and took notice of the adds immediately. The adds are menacing and misleading. The rise of heart disease and diabetes in this country directly correlates to the rise in use of HFCS.
1:09 PM, September 17, 2008
jublke said…
I also took note of the commercials. A friend of mine is trying to help her daughter lose weight and their doctor specifically advised them to avoid HFCS because it can be so addictive.
2:28 PM, September 17, 2008
Laine said…
HFCS might not be so bad if it wasn't in absolutely EVERYTHING. There is no 'in moderation'. If you filled up a shopping cart without looking at labels, and then looked at them once you're finished, you would have to put at least 3/4 of the basket back. And to compare it to sugar... seriously? How is that good? Sugar has no real nutrional value, right? So how is it good to be like sugar? Corn is for cows, and I've fed it to my horses, specifically when they need to gain weight, and it is doing the same thing for us humans.
7:48 PM, September 17, 2008
Ali said…
Oh my gosh I saw this today for the first time. Yes - not such a good idea for television.

I enjoyed your blog today - it's on Blogger's "Blogs of Note" so I was checking it out. Please have a look at mine by visiting Cheapest Airfares Blog

Keep up the good work!
9:44 AM, September 18, 2008
Shailendra Sharma said…
High-Fructose Corn Syrup is only harmful for those who are affected from Dibitis and lack of Haemoglobin . But it is useful for the peoples who works at least 16 hours in a day including the peoples whose works consist a lot of mental inturption,because sometime we don't taks proper food because of office work , and others daily routine,at that time the fructose in Syrup get dissociate Chemically and supplies the energy to body to do work more.
10:08 AM, September 18, 2008
Theresa (Teri) DellaRosa said…
I was horrified to see those adds, it took me forever to get my hubby to start reading lables and kick the HFCS habit. He looked at me after seing the add and I had to respond, "Don't listen to that propaganda!"
3:05 PM, September 18, 2008
Alicia said…
The ads run on television stunned me. I thought it was a joke at first. Unfortunately, it is all too real.
6:05 PM, September 18, 2008
Elisabeth said…
My husband and I also thought it was a joke...one of those Saturday Night Live commercials or something - wow - what a shocker. I posted an article/clip on my facebook the next day. So appalling. Thanks for the links.
8:40 PM, September 18, 2008
Melonie said…
Just found your blog via Blogs of Note/Blogger as well. I am REALLY excited to read this.

I noticed full page ads in several mainstream magazines lately, including PARENTS! Having watched King Corn several times with my family (including my husband who is from the belt buckle of Corn Country), I've been trying to eliminate HFCS in as much as I can. Since our family is already doing more home cooking and such it's a little easier....but then I noticed in ketchup and BBQ sauce and...OH MY.

I'm truly offended by the ads, personally, and I'm planning on writing to the editors of the magazines I've seen them in. For publications that are supposedly offering up information that parents can trust, seems to me they must be a lot more interested in the thousands per ad they are raking in. YUCK!
3:50 PM, September 20, 2008
Steve Cadwell said…
Congratulations on being a Blog of Note! I'm glad I found you thus.

The key to the fructose ads are two words: in moderation. Our great, great, great grandparents ate all kinds of sweet stuff -- at a tiny fraction of the amount that most Americans consume today -- and obesity and diabetes were rare indeed.
9:54 AM, September 21, 2008
MikeD'sArmyMom said…
I also thought it was too hoaky to be true. Then I was horrified when I realized it was real!

I don't think I'd be so scared if people would do their own research before believing something, but far too many people think what they see in print is the truth.

There is no way that HFCS is even remotely good for you.
11:10 AM, September 22, 2008
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