How Marketing Created Superfoods
What’s so special about superfoods? Even though the term has faded a bit from marketing copy, we still focus on certain products that we hear are better for us than others. Red wine. Boxthorn. Calais.
In truth, what sets these products apart has more to do with marketing money than its impact on our health. As Marion Nestlé explains in Atlantic today , food marketing is responsible for the whole concept that one healthy food is magically better than others.
She links this idea to scientific research promoted by companies or manufacturers’ associations that benefit from the sale of a particular food product. Maine wild blueberries are higher in antioxidants than tall blueberries more commonly found in supermarkets, so the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission took advantage of this and promoted it, Nestlé reports, with a full half of its marketing dollars since 1997. to 2000. Truth be told, antioxidants aren’t all that special and can be found in many fruits.
Sometimes the company accepts research that has already been done, such as when Barilla sent out press releases on a pasta research study that they did not fund . In other cases, they offer free food or (each scientist’s kryptonite) free money to research their product. Ocean Spray spends millions on any suspicions of health benefits that may be associated with cranberries.
“This type of study is designed to produce results that suggest that people who eat this single food will be healthier and can forget about everything else in their diet,” writes Nestlé. And therein lies the problem: not that fruits have antioxidants – okay, never mind – but they focus on the dietary regimens that will have the greatest impact on your diet, and instead make you think about buying certain foods that bring money for someone.
For example, we should all eat more fruits and vegetables. Not only is this a boring sounding recommendation, but it also takes some planning. There may not be a lot of vegetables in your favorite dining places. But suppose you were too busy to pack lunch and now you’re in a sandwich establishment that offers green tea (superfood!) Latte and salad that’s too small to fill you but has kale in it (superfood! )) basics and a bunch of sweet yogurts – the sugar isn’t very good, but they have live active cultures (probiotics!), and one of them is mixed with pomegranate puree (superfood!) and acai (superfood!). Now you feel like you are eating right, right? Even though the “super” foods were there only in small quantities and your food in general tends to be sweet and unsatisfactory.
Superfoods are there to make you feel better about not very healthy choices so that you buy one food and not the other. The people who make this acai yogurt are very happy with this situation. And as a result, you’ve lost sight of your own goals, which were probably not about buying the trendiest fruits, but about eating fruits, vegetables, and protein in the context of an overall healthy diet. You fell for it. We’ve done everything.