I was critical after last week's episode of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" about how sponsors might take advantage and run commercials about their foods, making them seem better for you than they are.
I took Ragu to task last week, and we have two more worse nominees after this week's episode.
Heinz ran a commercial at about :21 into the show, noting that its tomatoes come from Heinz seeds. Okay.
But what does that mean? They have better tomatoes? Are they heirloom tomatoes? Probably not.
The clincher is the tagline "because we're grown, not made." We'll assume the tomatoes are grown, not made. But ketchup is made, and from stuff that isn't grown.
As long as you have high-fructose corn syrup in your product, and regular U.S. made Heinz ketchup has high-fructose corn syrup, a slogan that says "grown, not made" is deceptive. Legal under the FTC perhaps, but deliberately misleading. Can't grow high-fructose corn syrup; if you've seen King Corn, you know what I mean.
Not to mention that while tomatoes are in the product, ketchup is still not a vegetable — despite the pleas and cries of the Reagan Administration — and a product loaded with sweetness and salt isn't helpful.
Given the multiple viewings and disdain expressed over French fries, ketchup in the show was displayed as coming out of an industrial container as a dip for French fries. Not good "advertising" within the show.
Lean Cuisine ran a spot at about :42 about Food Myth #35: When you go with Frozen, it can't be real.
The commercial proceeds to tell us it's real with "real wholesome ingredients like farm-picked veggies, real cheese, and crunchy walnuts." And the meals have "no preservatives."
Even if the meal is crap, it's still real, so the "food myth" hype is crap. If you watch the spot 10 times, you won't hear the word "farm-picked." I had to look it up. And what the heck does "farm-picked" mean.
This is a gobblegook phrase that means nothing. And given the crap of the food myth, they're 0-for-2. Real cheese isn't that helpful since most companies use real cheese, but is there a lot? A little? High-fat cheese?
Crunchy walnuts is kind of hilarious. Good to see they are using the crunchy kind. But as we've seen in restaurants and the stores, there are walnuts and then dressed up walnuts. This is remnant of McDonald's putting "candied walnuts" in their salads. Why do walnuts need to be "candied"?
Walnuts are good for you in small doses; candied walnuts are a toss-up.
When it comes to frozen meals, what's "real" is their sodium levels. That's real real.
The use of "real" gets to be "real" annoying. "Real wholesome" — is that redundant? Or is there a reason for this?
The great thing about true junk food is that it makes no bones about its presence and its effect. It's not good for you; have fun with it. When food companies try to make their products better or wholesome than they are, especially during a show about trying to get people to eat better, then I will catch them and write them up. Be skeptical of the hype.
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