Years ago, I worked for this behemoth, slightly high-end clothing store in the stock department. Stock, unlike sales a pretty motley group with all different ethnicities and incomes. I found that I got along with most people and it was one of the rare times in my life where I’ve managed to have more than just white friends. One friend was this girl named Shanda and as most people would guess, yes she was black. We would joke around a lot, but one day, I was sleepy, wasn’t watching what I was doing and stepped on her shoe. Immediately I got, “Damn, Hudin, you just went and stepped on my kicks.” “Oh, sorry. I wasn’t watching what I was doing.” “Yeah, well you better be careful or the next time I’m gonna get black on your ass.” I still run with the assumption that she was joking, but to this day, I think that she could have easily have been serious and I wasn’t really about to find out what, “getting black on my ass” meant. It didn’t sound like a plate of jelly beans.
It appears that advertisers have picked up on the fact that most whites take the voice of the black woman to be the most authoritative and powerful. Especially since the Corn Refiners Association has pulled out the following ad to try and tell us that high fructose corn syrup isn’t bad for us:
While it initially seems to make the black woman in the commercial is smarter than the white woman and in theory this is paying a compliment, it is actually quite insulting. They use the black woman to play off the fear of, “Oh no, she’s black and I’m white. If I argue with what she’s saying, I’ll be racist.” Thus, it allows the argument of high fructose corn syrup being not bad for you to stand. Let’s make sure that we understand that they only say it’s not bad for you. They never say that it’s good for you and it must be had, “in moderation”. “Moderation” is a term advertisers use when they want to say, “Yeah, this will probably be what kills you, but we’ve lobbied to be able to sell it, so use it just a little.” Like many people, I’ve mentioned that high fructose corn syrup isn’t good for you and apparently the message is catching on or the Corn Mafia wouldn’t be on the defensive, which in reality is a pretty pathetic defense.
They also happen to have another ad, which plays on the issue of sexism instead of racism to try and back up their claims.
The couple seems all nice and pleasant, but the husband is terrified to contradict his wife because he has no facts and while she really has no facts either (no, the premise that corn syrup is from corn is not a fact, it’s common sense) he defaults to her argument instead. This is much akin to two people finding a container of a toxic chemical and not knowing what’s really in it and hurt each others’ feelings trying to figure it out, they decide that they might as well just drink it. I’m rather terrified that we live in an age where the media is able to dictate and override primal instincts that got us to where we are today.
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Just so we’re clear, some of us do “know what they say about it,” where by “they,” I mean scientists and researchers. And what they say (and have scientifically demonstrated) is that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) causes weight gain at levels far greater than occurs by ordinary table sugar. They say HFCS plays a major role in the current obesity crisis, which began in the early 1970s, and which peaked in 1999–the same year that HFCS consumption peaked.
Here are some resources that may be helpful:
Here are some more resources that you may find helpful:
“Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity” (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 79, No.
4, 537-543, April 2004)
“Our Sweet Ending: Health Consequences with High Fructose Corn Syrup Consumption,” (The Science Creative Quarterly, No. 3, April 2008)
“Does Fructose Make You Fatter?” (New York Times, July 24, 2008)
“Dietary Sugars Stimulate Fatty Acid Synthesis in Adults” (Parks et al. J.
Nutr. 2008; 138: 1039-1046)
Cool, thanks some actual information. I’ve always thought that the only reason Atkins caused any initial weight loos was because in cutting out carbohydrates, people were cutting out all the massive corn syrup intake from eating all the crappy carbs out there that are pumped up with the junk.
Oh yeah, fixed up your links a bit as well.
There was actually this article two days ago on Care2 about this very subject. Great article that gives a nice set of bullet points about this ridiculous garbage of high-fructose corn syrup.
Have you looked at the sweetsurprise.com Web site? Check it out: Go to their “sweet smart” guide at http://sweetsurprise.com/get_sweet_smart.php, and click on “High Fructose Corn Syrup,” and scroll down to “Manufacturing Process” and then try to explain how that is consistent with their claim that HFCS is “natural.”
Here’s a sample sentence from the three-paragraph description: “The enzyme alpha-amylase is added to a slurry of starch and water to liquefy or reduce the particle size of the starch to produce glucose polymers. Enzymes are nature’s catalysts to get things done.” That’s not my description, or a description written by a critic of labeling HFCS as natural, or a description written by a satirist making fun of sweetsurprise.com. That’s straight from the sweetsurprise.com Web site!
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