More Truthyness in Adverts

There's this ad that's been playing on TV for the past several weeks. In it, the archetypal Soccer Mom is wheeling her shopping cart through a grocery. As she wanders the isles, she opines about the possibility of a tax on soft drinks, sports drinks, and--gasp!--even flavored waters. She doesn't need the government telling her what to eat and drink. It's hard enough to buy groceries, she says, without a tax on soda. (The obvious question being, if you can't afford actual food--veggies, cheese, bread, milk--why are you buying soda?)

I'm not exactly moved by her plight. Given the rates of obesity in this country, it's fair to assume that a sizeable (heh) portion of the populace doesn't know what to eat. Soccer Mom's inability to afford enough soda to send her family into a diabetic coma doesn't strike me as a real crisis.

The ad is paid for by Americans Against Food Taxes, which sounds very grass-roots-y and implies the taxes are on actual food. (Unless there's been a revision since I was in school, I don't think soda is in the food pyramid.) My gut reaction, on seeing the ad, was that the Americans in question owned companies like Coca Cola, et. al.

Ding! Give this blogger a cookie!

Americans Against Food Taxes (AAFT) is a front group funded by the beverage industry which consists of major restaurant chains, food and soft drink manufacturers and their associated lobbying groups. It was organized by the American Beverage Association to fight a proposed three to ten cent tax on soda, sugary drinks and energy drinks to help fund health care reform in the United States.

At issue isn't whether the tax will work. I suspect that Soccer Mom will fork over the few extra cents to keep her offspring high on corn syrup. And life will go on.

At issue is the disingenuous nature of the ad. It would have you think that it's a matter of "folks looking out for other folks." When, in reality, it's Big Corporations getting us to look out for their best interests.