I think it was during the Atkins diet craze that I saw a bottle of water that had “CARB-FREE!” emblazoned on the side. Staring and smiling, I realized, even at my tender young age, that “____-free!” claims on food items were riding the coattails of popular diets hard. Water, of course, has always been carb-free. Chocolate syrup has always been low-fat, but it only started claiming that fact during the "FAT IS BAD" craze. But the eye-catching starburst catches the twitchy attention of the desperate dieter searching for anything that could wiggle in under his particular food restriction--and voila! A potentially ignored purchase is made.A more deceptive ploy is the “Made with real _____!” claim. Technically, a smooch of 100% cheese lightly dusted on a thumb and then pressed gently against the advertised cracker validates that claim. The bigger the claim looks on the box, though, the more a Cheez-It sounds like a slice of fresh cheese, and the healthier a loaf of bread "made with whole grain wheat" sounds.
So the moral of this is: food wants to be eaten, regardless of your darn diet--and you will be trapped into eating it.
On that note, Your Friday Ad haiku: A Dieter's Epiphany:
On low-carb diet.
Ugh. Hungry, hungry, hungry—
CHILDREN ARE CARB-FREE!
- Hannah Cheng, Hungry Creative Department Intern
Previously in the Friday 5-7-5: The Writer's Hangover