Grist: Industry-funded Super Bowl ad rails against the (non-existent) soda tax

[marmar]

Industry-funded Super Bowl ad rails against the (non-existent) soda tax
by Tom Philpott

7 Feb 2011 10:21 AM


Maybe it's just Monday-morning grumpiness, but I hate the media fixation with Super Bowl ads. Corporations and industry lobby groups drop millions on 30-second spots, and then bloggers scramble to come up with something fresh to say about them -- and in the process, amplify their message.

Who benefits? The bloggers generate some on-the-cheap page views for their websites, and the corporate sponsors get extra bang for their advertising buck as their messages "go viral" on YouTube. I'm not sure anyone else, including the reading public, wins.

Having said all of that ... did y'all see that ad featuring the supermarket-shopping lady railing against the idea of a national soda tax, as she drops a giant bottle of soda into her groaning shopping cart? The ad is so weird and stark that ... I've decided to devote a blog post to it.

Watch: http://www.grist.org/article/2011-02-07-industry-funded-super-bowl-ad-rails-against-the-non-existent-sod


Something called Americans Against Food Taxes sponsored the ad. Its membership is mostly the predictable corporate crew whose bottom lines might take a hit from less soda consumption: grain-trading giants like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill; fast-food behemoths like McDonald's and Wendy's; sweet-drink purveyors Coca-Cola and Pepsi; and a whole bevy of supermarket industry interest groups. (More puzzling is the smattering of Hispanic groups, most of them business-oriented.) ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/article/2011-02-07-industry-funded-super-bowl-ad-rails-against-the-non-existent-sod

[leveymg]

1. Obesity, Inc. wants you to be its friend on Facebook.