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Dr. George: Ads Miss Telling Story
Published in the Ojai Valley News, August 9, 1991, p. B-2.
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Dear Dr. Meinig:
In case you haven’t come across the two page magazine ad put out by “The Sugar Association,” I have enclosed it for you. If I can see the ridiculousness of their claims, I’m sure your comments about them would do much to help your readers to see through the distortions of truth that they employ to capture public acceptance and sales of sugar. – N.C.
Dear N.C.:
Thanks–I hadn’t come across this particular ad but this isn’t the first time The Sugar Association has showered the public with its mythomania advertisements.
The question and answer format they used is particularly susceptible to exaggeration and misleading diversions of thought because the four or five statements that are made for each question makes it impossible for the reader not to agree that sugar should be included in their diet.
Let’s examine one of their several questions and answers that appears in the ad as it is representative of the others as well.
“Question: Which item does not carry a warning label:
- nuclear weapons
- some artificial sweeteners
- heavy machinery
- sugar
- high tension wires
Answer: d. Sugar carries no warning label. It is 100 percent pure, safe and naturally created in sugar beets and sugar cane in tranquil rural settings.”
You can readily see by the content of this particular question how absurd are their comparisons to sugar, but it is the answers that should be pulled apart and looked at as they so cleverly manipulate words to capture your acceptance of the product. To accomplish their purpose necessitated some interesting contradictions and misleading phraseology. In the case of this question and answer, look at how their publicist statement, “Sugar is naturally created in sugar beets and sugar cane,” leads you on to believe that your table sugar is a natural food.
Should any of you be inclined to believe the end product of their manufacturing effort is a natural substance, may I suggest a brief visit with your encyclopedia for enlightenment about the conglomeration of chemical processing sugar cane must go through before it graces your table.
The next part of their answer states: “created in tranquil settings.” Of course beets and sugar cane are grown in tranquil areas. While that is true, the conversion factories that turn these natural substances into sugar are far from tranquil, no matter where located.
Then, let’s consider their claim that sugar is 100 percent pure and safe. Pure is certainly true but the connotation is false. Sugar proves to be so pure that none of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients nor any of the fiber of the beets and cane remain in the finished product. It contains nothing but calories and its sweet taste.
The whole purpose behind this ad is disclosed by their statement that sugar is safe. Can we in any way consider it safe when we look at sugar’s role in obesity, dental caries, diabetes, hypoglycemia, hypertension, increase cholesterol, triglycerides and uric acid?
Or can we think it safe when we consider how sugar acts to acidify our alkaline based body? This fact can clearly be demonstrated by simple tests on the saliva and urine. Even more important is sugar’s upset of the calcium phosphorus balance in the blood. Each of these factors plays a role in a variety of conditions such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis…and they tell you it is safe.
A key additional problem that should steer you away from this substance is the ease to which people can become addicted to sweets as they cause far too many American diets to be disproportionately loaded with sugar rich, nutrient poor foods. Worst of all, the highly number of individuals consuming these foods are children
It’s strange how people willingly accept the fact that sugar destroys hard tooth enamel but then have difficulty understanding what it does to their soft tissues.
Getting back to The Sugar Association’s ad, the real surprise was the stand they took on the important part sugar plays in the process of tanning leather. They were pleased and felt complimented by this attribute. It is difficult for me to believe how they can consider something that toughens up shoe leather and handbags can really be something that is good to eat.