Food: Are You Fooled By The Packaging?

In another interesting test, Wansink gave people different yogurt cups that were labeled ‘strawberry’ and I think ‘chocolate’. People ate yogurt and were asked to describe its flavor.

Most said it was ‘strawberry’ and ‘chocolate’. In reality, it was just plain yogurt. When they were told that it was a plain yogurt, they did not believe him and told him that they really tasted either strawberry or chocolate flavor.

The power of suggestion is phenomenal when it comes to food.

It also seems to apply to clothing. 20/20 did a story on this. They asked people who are into designer clothing if they could tell the difference between Gap and some designer label.

They swore they could. So they gave them different clothing items without any labels and asked them to pick designer ones. Most picked Gap.

I'm a pretty savy shopper so I don't get fooled very often, but it still happens. I noticed the other day while looking around, on an ice cream package, the statement,"Still a full half gallon!" You mean the others aren't??...and then there's the coffee in the shrinking one pound can!

Making food choices should happen before you're at the supermarket isles. That way you won't be taken in by marketing hype. If it has packaging it's suspect to start with.

Proper food doesn't need razzamatazz... fruits, salad, veggies, nuts, seeds, fish, eggs etc... the only word you need to look for on the packet is... "organic" :) Then check for "quality" with eyes, nose, and touch.

A while ago, I talked about how I got 'fooled' on my blog. I bought Juicy Juice 100% Juice - Grape - thinking it was 100% grape juice. As I drank it, I noticed it really didn't taste like grape juices, and sure enough, a look at the ingredients list revealed it was 100% juice all right - 100% apple, pear and then grape. I guess I should have known better. It's hard to never get fooled with food - there is an entire marketing staff at every company trying to ensure you choose their product.

Dr.J said:
I'm a pretty savy shopper so I don't get fooled very often, but it still happens. I noticed the other day while looking around, on an ice cream package, the statement,"Still a full half gallon!" You mean the others aren't??...and then there's the coffee in the shrinking one pound can![...]

Yogurt is doing that too...the other night I'm looking at the new foil top on the yogurt container - blazed across the top was something about the yogurt didn't change, just the foil top. Funny, it was also now just 6-ounces, where before it was 8-ounces....no mention of that on the package though!

The size thing happens all the time. A few years ago, there was a big brouhaha over Tampax... they kept the price the same, but reduced the box size from 40 to 30, or something like that. The company received so many complaints so immediately, that they went back to the old box, at the same price. Said something in their embarrassed press release that they didn't think people would notice!

I have to admit, I'm often as swayed as the next guy when it comes to packaging. My eye often is drawn to the brown/green theme that has become synonomous (is that spelled right? it looks wrong) with "organic". Drives my husband nuts, as he doesn't believe that 'organic is better' just that it's more expensive. I buy it anyway.

I've also discovered that packaging is, indeed, invading the once untouched areas of produce, dairy, etc. I came across "Grapples" (http://www.grapplefruits.com) the other day. A fair warning to all... walk VERY far away from them, quickly!!! In a moment of pure weakness (and more than a little curiosity), I purchased them. They were AWFUL. The manufacturers took perfectly good apples and injected imitation grape flavor and scent into them. They smelled and tasted like grape bubble gum!!! So disgusting, the squirrels wouldn't touch them, and they eat EVERYTHING!! They rotted in the woods outside my house!!

Grapples sound disgusting!!!

I used to be fooled by packaging, now most of our food shopping is for ingredients rather than finished products, so it's not as much of an issue, but those items I do buy are very thoroughly scrutinized. Many a time I have browsed a particular section of the supermarket for a good 20 minutes only to come away with a plan in mind for making my own version at home after finding nothing suitable.

The only one that ever got me was some nonfat yogurt. It had loads of sugar in it, but the label said "No fat! No aspartame!" But it still had about 220 calories per cup, which is a ton for yogurt. I've gone back to buying my plain nonfat stuff and adding my own flavors. Seems like you can't really go wrong that way.

Yes, I think choice does give us too much of it and once we opt for what we are told is the healthiest option, we realize soon after that it is all the same stuff but with different logo's we are only really paying for the box or packet and rarely the product inside. I doubt very much if there really is anything fat-free or color free.

Product companies are competing against each other and so it would make sense that no one keeps their foods clean if they want to make a killing!. But, nature has been thoroughly abused and ironically, to keep the wealthy in luxury is absoloute fact. Even fat cats eat bad foods and grease-lined steaks at expensive resturaunts, but their moral stance on food today is to keep it moderatley clean and so what we get is a tub of box of cereal full of E's and no sugars, but still contains traceable fats of some sort.

We are duped by what we are sold otherwise we would all starve or eat just leaves and become amazingly healthy as we ought to be. You can never be chemical free in today's lands of industry and commerce and not one of us are eating healthy or natural products that say on th packets we are. There are 200 more calories in a snickers bar for example today than when marathon used to be origional name!. There is also more salt and fat in crisps than there was twenty years ago, 50% more sugar in chocolate than there was fifty years ago and everything tastes so much more powerful than when I was a small child in the 70's.

They call it tachyphalaxis in medicine. :-)

I wonder if the labels are real or do they lie about what is contained in the food.

weight loss, remember the Pirate's Booty scandal? They were these healthy cheeto-type snacks that had like 3x the fat and 3x the calories they claimed...

yeah...food kills.

I have NEVER heard of college farms!
Thats not fair because my university makes its own food ( mainly pastries and ice-cream) because we have the farm facilities for this production.
This name gives college food a bad rep!
>.

What a disapointement, we bought them thinking they were a new type of apple like the japanese pear which is a mix breed between an apple tree and a pear tree, but we were terribly disapointed to find out artificially flavored apples, what a shame, what is next?

I will make sure to return it to PUBLIX so they will know for sure that I am terribly disapointed with the artificially flavored apples.

I took to work one night what I thought would be a healthy snack for me & my 2 co-workers a 4-pack of Grapples..We shared ONE apple & the 2 of 3 of us got sick. I got a behind the eyeball- headache & horrible aftertaste of grape in my mouth for 3 hours. My co-worker Jen had nausea & an a emesis. She was sick for the rest of the shift. It must of been the artifical flavor -as they don't list exactly what is in there. I do have asthma & thank God I did not have a anaphalactic reaction!