Read the Fine Print

by: Jill Richardson

Fri May 22, 2009 at 18:04:08 PM PDT

Hens in a battery cage, making 98% of Wendy's eggs.

The other 98% still come from hens in battery cages, described by HSUS as follows:

Arguably the most abused animals in all agribusiness, nearly 280 million laying hens in the United States are confined in barren, wire battery cages so restrictive the birds can't even spread their wings. With no opportunity to engage in many of their natural behaviors, including nesting, dust bathing, perching, and foraging, these birds endure lives wrought with suffering.

Because of animal welfare concerns, countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Austria have banned battery cages. The entire European Union is phasing out conventional cages by 2012.

Battery cages are not only cruel because the hens live in filthy, crowded conditions (sometimes stacked so that birds poop on the birds below them) and can hardly move. When trying to act out natural behaviors like dustbathing, they beat their bodies against the metal bars of their cages. HSUS also provides a video of hens in battery cages, a photo gallery of battery cages (read the caption with each photo), and a comparison between battery cages and cage-free egg production.

Wendy's, this is really disingenuous. It's fantastic that with your large demand you are improving the lives of many chickens, no doubt, but if you truly believe in the cruelty of battery cages and the need to address the issue, why are you only going 2% of the way? Probably to garner press releases like the one that I stumbled upon, without the expense of actually making real change. That's my hunch.

McGreenwashing

by: Jill Richardson

Thu May 21, 2009 at 21:12:34 PM PDT

As you can see from the GOOD magazine chart above, this is clearly a case of McGreenwashing. Would you like fries with that?

Some Unintentional Humor from the Biotech Industry

by: Jill Richardson

Mon May 18, 2009 at 11:47:07 AM PDT

Sustainability is more than just a buzzword; it is increasingly the benchmark by which consumers, investors and governments evaluate products and technologies. The challenges of population growth and global climate change will require sustainable and creative solutions to meet increasing demands for food and fuel.

Today, BIO has assembled top executives from British Petroleum, Coco-Cola, DuPont, McKinsey & Company and Burrill & Company, government and policy leaders from the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business and National Corn Growers Association, and Andrew Young Jr., Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to examine the question of future sustainability.

I've replied to the email asking for more information, since I can't make it to Atlanta for the event. But I am dying to hear what Coca-Cola and DuPont have to contribute to sustainability.

GMO Industry Takes a Page from "Clean Coal" PR Bullshit

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Apr 21, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM PDT

I came across the term in this article about Monsanto fighting back against Germany's ruling to ban their GM corn. (Apparently, Luxembourg, Greece, Austria, France, and Hungary have all banned it too.) Monsanto says they are exploring their legal options to fight the ban and then delivers its normal line of bullcrap about the safety, sustainability, and usefulness of GMOs. That's like calling an SUV "sustainable" while comparing it to a Hummer, and pretending the Prius (in this case, organic agriculture) doesn't exist.

Sodas & Advertising in Schools

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 12:35:50 PM PDT

...in May 2006, the American Beverage Association, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, and Cadbury Schweppes (now the Dr Pepper/Snapple Group) teamed up with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association) to develop new School Beverage Guidelines that significantly reduce the calories available from beverages during the school day...

In just two years since we began implementing the national School Beverage Guidelines, there has been a 58 percent decrease in beverage calories shipped to schools and nearly 80 percent of schools under contract with bottlers are in full compliance - exceeding the 75 percent two-year standard called for in the MOU.

Is that better? Is that good enough? There are two questions that I think we need to address here: 1) Are their standards good enough based on the most up to date knowledge of nutrition and 2) What about the issue of commercialism and marketing within schools, which is entirely ignored by the agreement. (Perhaps three - the third being that there is no independent review of the ABA's own estimation of the job they are doing, nor any enforcement mechanism if they don't do what they have promised.)
 

Finger-Lickin' Good Potholes

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM PDT

This is seriously pathetic. The right has said for years that we should rely on the private sector to do everything. Is this what they meant? Subject our citizens to looking at advertisements for food that is bad for them, just so they don't have to pay for road maintenance with tax dollars?

I heard from a guy who worked in advertising once that advertisers are frustrated by TiVo, pop-up blockers, TV series on DVDs, and all of the other "tricks" consumers have found to avoid looking at their ads. So now I see ads in the trays where you put your laptops and shoes in the security line at the airport. They are clearly looking for every possible space they can find to advertise - including the back of people's shaved heads in the case of one airlines.

And I realize the companies will continue to do this, but in this particular case, fixing the streets is the government's job and it's pathetic that it's turned into a KFC advertising opportunity.

Hat tip to Aliza for sending this to me.

Suggestions for Marketing Icelandic Sheep Products

by: la motocycliste

Tue Mar 24, 2009 at 13:05:52 PM PDT

A riding buddy moved to Missouri and started raising Icelandic sheep! Icelandics are closer to the ancestral sheep than many breeds. They are hardy, more intelligent than the average sheep and capable of eating blackberry bushes. They also grow wonderful wool.

The Government and Pinocchio

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 14:00:00 PM PST

The first thing I did when I saw the news was ask Michele Simon for her opinion. She's the author of Appetite for Profit and as an expert in Big Food's slimy ways of marketing junk to kids, I knew she'd feel strongly about this one. And I was right! She said:

This is a sad sign that change has apparently NOT come to all of Washington. Teaming up with corporate sponsors whose sole goal is hook kids under the guise of "nutrition education" was a hallmark of the Bush Administration.

In this time of fiscal "responsibility" we should not be wasting more tax dollars on useless and ineffective advertising campaigns. If the new administration is serious about address childhood obesity, it should put its new FTC chairman to work on getting the junk food industry to stop targeting our kids with unhealthy messages. As for the USDA, its time would be better spent getting Big Agriculture out of the way of real reform of our broken food system.

OK, even if some of us think that Pinocchio might be an appropriate spokesperson for officials in our government, I'm with Michele on this one. I don't doubt they mean well BUT this is the wrong way to go about accomplishing their goals. Marion Nestle opened our eyes in her book Food Politics by exposing the politicization of the food pyramid - a USDA effort that still fails to tell anyone to "eat less." Rather, it encourages "balance" and tells us to "Eat Right. Be Active."

Now, "Be Active" is great advice, and it's advice that the American people should follow. But it's NOT dietary advice. It's the same advice given to Americans by the food industry via its mouthpiece, the Center for Consumer Freedom (funded by Coca-Cola and other junk food companies). Please, USDA, keep combating obesity in your list of priorities, but don't take the advice of the Center for Consumer Freedom to do it.

Luna Cookies: Marketing Gimmick and Bad Idea

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 11:00:00 AM PST

To be honest, I've got a bit of a problem with the energy bar industry even before we discuss cookies. For an athlete who needs a lot of calories on the go, energy bars make sense. For the rest of us who aren't going for long hikes, runs, or bike rides, we would probably benefit much more from less calorie-dense whole foods: fruit, veggies, whole grains, nuts, etc. And NOT fruit, whole grains, and nuts molded together with sugar into a convenient little bar!

So now we come to the Luna Bar cookies. The ones I saw in the store last night were Berry Pomegranate flavor. Well, berries and pomegranates are packed full of antioxidants! Except you aren't eating a berry or a pomegranate, you're eating a cookie! You're not getting the nutrition of a cup of blueberries, you're getting the nutrition of a fortified COOKIE.

The cookie also said it was made with whole grains. Again, if you want whole grains, eat quinoa, or brown rice, or bulgur wheat. This cookie may be made WITH whole grains but it is still A COOKIE. (I make my own cookie recipe with whole wheat flour too... but in addition to the 2 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour I put in, I add 2 sticks of butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar... whole grains in cookie form are whole grains plus fat plus sugar and thus not comparable to eating a cup of brown rice!)

On top of this all, Luna Cookies are Luna brand. People will think of them as energy bars. Thus, people will think of them as healthy. Well, guess what - they are COOKIES. Eat them as you would a cookie. It's a dessert, a treat. It's junk. Fortified junk, but junk. It's the same as eating a cookie and popping some vitamins with it.

My last complaint: if you're eating a cookie, it might as well be a very delicious cookie. I mean, come on - when you're splurging on a treat, make it worthwhile. I haven't tried Luna Cookies but something tells me they aren't the most delicious cookies around. My recommendation: If you want a cookie, go find the tastiest cookie you can get. If you want some vitamins to go with your cookie, take a multivitamin or eat a fruit.

Congrats to Yoplait! Dannon, You're Next!

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Feb 09, 2009 at 10:26:21 AM PST

You see, rbGH increases a hormone called IGF-1 (a hormone linked to breast cancer in humans) in cows and in their milk. Yet Yoplait runs a major publicity campaign asking consumers to send in their pink Yoplait lids to increase Yoplait's donation to fight breast cancer. Congratulations Yoplait, you are now walking your talk - or at least, you will by this August.

Latecomer or not to the rbGH-free world, Yoplait wasted no time patting themselves on the back in typical corporate fashion:

In an e-mail announcement sent out Friday, Yoplait noted that it's the first leading yogurt brand to go "rbGH-free," which may come as a surprise to companies such as Stonyfield, Nancy's, Cascade Fresh, Brown Cow, and other organic industry leaders, all of which have been in the forefront of the movement to reject the synthetic hormone in milk products.

Nice job, Yoplait. Dannon, you listening?

UPDATE: Yoplait's press release is out! See it below.

A Little Truth in Marketing About California Milk

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Feb 09, 2009 at 09:08:12 AM PST

Compare that picture with this one, from the "Real California Milk" ad campaign:

In 2007, California had 2165 dairy farms with an average of 850 cows apiece. This represents significant consolidation since 2002, when they had 2793 dairy farms with 589 cows apiece. In 2007, over 90% of the cows lived on dairy farms that had more than 500 cows. In fact, the largest group of dairy farms - farms with over 500 cows - had an average of 1656 cows apiece. I can promise you, those cows were NOT grazing in pasture for the simple reason that it's impossible.

Yet yesterday I passed a billboard for California milk showing a picture of a handful of cows grazing in pasture! What??? How about some truth in advertising, California?

Statistics are from the 2007 Ag Census. Pictures are from the Cornucopia Institute.

And We Wonder Why We're Fat...

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Feb 04, 2009 at 15:00:00 PM PST

The Denny's stunt is, well, really a sad statement about the American way of food. Fast food chains are part of a vast system of agriculture and industrial processing that is made possible by one thing and one thing only -- cheap oil. It's cheap fuel that powers the synthetic fertilizer that nourishes the thousands of acres of corn planted and harvested by a a handful of combine drivers. Cheap gas transports that corn to factory farms to feed poultry and livestock that are then processed and trucked across the country to the nearest store. It's a system that pumps tons and tons of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere every day, harming the climate every day.

And the result? Customers lined up for their free 770 calories and 44 grams of fat. Does that calorie count include the high fructose corn syrup masquerading as maple syrup that people dump on their pancakes?

Betting on the new local economies: I'm expanding my business

by: must have been the roses

Mon Feb 02, 2009 at 14:26:29 PM PST

I own a small bread bakery in West Philadelphia.  My business is expanding in a shrinking economy and consumer spending.  Why?  Find out below the fold and have a peek at the bright future that is ahead of us; even if it's a challenging road to get there.  

Coca-Cola With Vitamins? We Don't Buy It

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Jan 23, 2009 at 13:00:00 PM PST

You should take prompt action to correct these violations. Please respond to this letter within 15 days from receipt with the actions you plan to take in response to this letter, including an explanation of each step being taken to correct the current violations and prevent similar violations. Include any documentation necessary to show that correction has been achieved.

Ha! And if that ain't enough, CSPI is going after Coca-Cola with a class action suit for their fraudulent health claims on Vitamin Water. In their words: "vitamins + water + sugar + hype = soda - bubbles."

McDonalds Stages PR Stunt, Gets Caught

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Dec 31, 2008 at 16:28:51 PM PST