Maybe it’s just me. But, the company that makes Glad freezer bags is running a commercial right now that I find, well the word offensive might begin to describe it. Unfortunately I haven’t found a copy on the net anywhere. A word picture will have to serve.
Ms. Suburban Susie Sunshine walks up to the meat counter and orders “four pounds of sirloin, but just wrap two because I’ll end up throwing the rest away anyway” or words to that effect. WTF???????
The marketing geniuses that came up with this piece of crap go on to inform the viewer that the average food waste in this country is five hundred pounds per I’m not sure what. Is it per person, per household or are they lumping all the food wasted in public and retail kitchens together with the rest of us?
In any case, I’d love to know who’s throwing out my share. Most of what goes out of our kitchen is peelings and trimmings. And most of that gets mixed with composting base and ends up in the garden. We draw the line at potato peelings though. Growing your own is great, but spuds in the flower beds are a real pain to deal with because no matter how hard you try you NEVER DIG THEM ALL UP.
I don’t know, maybe the current crop of commercials are being designed by computers or something because most of them don’t make much sense anyway. But, this one is so low, it reaches a new high. In a country that has at least thirteen million hungry children, the idea that any food is wasted is troubling. In a world where millions live with hunger on a daily basis; I guess it’s a good thing the hungriest probably won’t see our commercials. And, as an extra added attraction, when or if you throw out a couple of pounds of meat because you didn’t store it properly in the first place you’re not only wasting the meat you’re wasting the resources it took to raise the blessed discarded two pounds of sirloin in the first place. Fertilizer, water, grain; it all joins that cut of meat in the garbage can.
I know that people in marketing departments live in their own little worlds; I’m not sure this group is even in the same solar system.
Cross posted in Walking With Hope.
3 comments:
I know the ad you're talking about, but I have a completely different take on it. It's estimated that as much as 30% of the food in America is wasted each year. Good for you for not being wasteful, but you're the exception. I live alone, and it's all too easy for me to buy more than I can eat, and I work with many people who are in same situation. We end up throwing out things that we shouldn't have bought in the first place. I admit I was shocked the first time I saw this ad, but then I realized, it's a good reminder that I should not be wasteful. Here's a link to a post that someone else wrote on this topic; she discusses it much more eloquently than I do: http://blog.sustainablog.org/the-shocking-statistics-of-food-waste/
I haven't seen the ad, so I can't comment on it's actual content.
Like it or not...excessive food waste is a fact. Of oourse, their motive is to sell the idea that Susie can do something about it if she buys their product.
Whether Susie buys Glad bags or not, lets hope that she recognizes herself in the ad and becomes more conscious of the issue. All of us who do throw away more than we should, need to get a wake up call and either figure out how to do a better job preserving food or modify our buying habits.
The hunger problem is like our environmental problems. It's a "takes a village" issue where everyone needs to do their part, but many many people are not aware or they don't understand that there are little things THEY can do to help ease the problem. And I'm sure most of us don't tie the food waste issue to a resource problem...AND WE SHOULD! I appreciate you writing this post and pointing that out. When I go to the store today, I know I'll be more consciencious.
I thought I would bring my comment from Jackie's original post of this essay on "Walkikng with Hope:"
I'm sorry. I can, to a certain extent, understand the commercial. Several months ago, I wrote a piece on meat and how it's impossible to buy a reasonable quantity of some kind of meat one actually recognizes at a grocery store anymore. The stores have taken to putting the best prices on huge packages of meat, so people feel obligated to buy way more than they need in order to get "the best deal." THAT'S the stuff that turns to garbage before that lady in the commercial can eat it. It's meant to. The grocery people are only concerned that you BUY it, not that you actually EAT it... (Not every one of us has the time or the degree of organization in our lives to guarantee that we consume everything but the "moo" out of every piece of food we purchase...!)
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