When I watch TV,
it’s apparent that I’m not watching a real reflection
of the world – just look at those so-called reality shows. Commercials
surely don’t reflect the real world. But, I still expect what
I see on the TV to somewhat represent the human experience. Maybe
my expectations are too high.
Take, for one, a commercial I saw recently for cereal. Cereal, OK,
I’ll bite – what’s new in that realm? I mean, I’m
not the world’s best cook so cereal often plays a large role
in my meal planning.
Anyway, this commercial was for a “healthful” cereal,
something with fruits and grains and a pretty package. It was a grown-up
cereal. Only, instead of wanting to rush out and buy the newest, super
yummy cereal like I did when I was a kid, I was mad.
This commercial advertised that their cereal was grown in “the
fields of Battle Creek.” What’s more, it comes off the
bush in boxes. How convenient. The last time I checked, cereal does
not grow on trees – and it certainly takes a lot more work than
simply plucking the box from the bush and taking it to the store.
I also am not aware of any of these lustrous fields in Battle Creek
– I friend who lives there, and she has yet to see them either.
I’m all for value-added, but I don’t know of any grower
who can grow a box of cereal. Straight from the field to my mouth
– now that’s what I’m talking about.
I’m not an idiot. I know that the marketers who made this commercial
don’t really expect people to believe that cereal grows on bushes.
But, apparently, the money these commercials bring in the form of
sales really does grow on trees.
I read recently in a publication from the University of Massachusetts
Extension that for every $3.49 box of cereal, $3 is dedicated to packaging
and marketing and a mere 7 cents goes to growers. This is ridiculous.
How about we stop making commercials that basically make fun of growers
and use that money for something worthwhile? Something like paying
those growers what they deserve or taking the opportunity to use these
commercials to slip in a little education about the food these customers
will, hopefully, buy. But, then again, I don’t speak cereal
so I must not understand what the advertisers are thinking.
Along the same lines of the cereal commercial is one I saw for fabric
softener. Its scent was summer orchard. The commercial showed a woman
out in a field with the wind blowing as she dances with her just-washed
laundry.
I don’t know about you, but the last time I was in the orchard
in the summer, I wasn’t dancing – and I sure wasn’t
enjoying the smell. The memories of summer I have are always filled
with the stench of chemicals, sweat, dirt and – toward the later
weeks – old fruit: none of which are pleasant.
Summer orchard is not a scent that people would – well, should
– want on their clothing or bed sheets. But, to know that, these
marketers and product designers would have to actually step foot into
an orchard before trying to con the American public into buying their
product.
What’s next? I can see the marketers now as they try to think
of a clever campaign to sell their new almond-scented perfume: Maraschino.
Only I know what really happens to those cherries – and the
real smells that are associated with the process. Or maybe the next
big thing will be a line of designer clothes modeled after the styles
of rural America – overalls, Carharts, baseball caps, work boots
and Dickies. Only, I bet these ones don’t have armpit stains,
blood, oil spots and tractor grease on them. And I surely bet there
aren’t any smashed cherries stuck all over the back of the pants
from riding a harvester all day long. That was one of my funniest
memories as a child – watching Dad walk around with smooshed
cherries on his rump.
Commercials and products like these just help play into the ignorance
that many people have about our food supply. It makes me sad to think
that there are people who aren’t able to understand all of the
work, research, money and time that go into bringing food –
and associated products – from the field to their tables. It’s
a lot more complicated than the conventional media might have us think.
Maybe it’s just easier for them not to have to think about it.
Sometimes it’s best not to know what you’re eating –
yeah, I read “Fast Food Nation.”
Or maybe they are as amazed by the whole process as I am. They, however,
don’t want to ruin the magic with education – like my
friend who worked at Walt Disney World for a semester and saw Cinderella
taking a smoke break. It kind of ruined it for her – some things
are just better with magic.
Whatever it is, I will never understand people who are so out of touch
with reality that they think their food just happens – poof!
– with a magic wand. I will also never get the marketers who
think it’s OK to feed consumers the misinformation regarding
our food supply.
When are growers going to stop being a novelty to be used in selling
products and instead respected for what they really are: our nation’s
(world’s) providers?
What do I know, though? I’m just a farm girl who writes about
trees. Or so my daily newspaper friends tease – obviously taken
in by the conventional media stereotype that there is no more to farming
than watching something grow and raking in the big bucks at the end
of the season.
