Misleading Advertising

Misleading Labeling

Misleading advertisement has become a way for companies to survive in the market. Misleading marketing is dangerous for the consumer and even the environment because companies are spending more time focusing on how to get a consumer to pull out their wallet than helping maintain a safe, friendly, and healthy society. Marketers should be honest about what they are selling to help lower America’s rising obesity rates, to stop adding to the environmental crisis, and to protect the lives of their consumers.

Food on the market is worse for people than they think, due to false advertising, adding to the obesity problem in America. Two thirds of adults in the United States are overweight ("Overweight and obesity," 2012). The statistics are getting higher rather than lower each year. It is a nationwide problem and many people point the finger at teachers and school physical education systems. The source of countless overweight Americans is what is fueling the body. That is not a problem that many teachers can fix other than through education. Kids are eating cookies that say 50% less sugar and that must mean that those cookies are healthy. Adults are drinking coffee creamer that says ‘sugar free’ so pouring a little extra into the cup is ok. Chung Hee-hyung investigated the term sugar free. (2012). He reports that the big words plastered on products are misleading. Sugar free can simply mean that it doesn’t have pure sugar, otherwise known as table sugar. There are plenty of substitutes for table sugar that are essentially and chemically the same thing. The substitutes are just as bad for the body as pure sugar (Hee-hyung, 2012).

In the grocery store there are a plethora of scams that marketers use to get consumers to purchase “the healthy choice.” For example Almond milk is made to be healthier and less fatty than regular milk. It really doesn’t have many nutrients to offer, it is mostly water and evaporated cane juice and only four almonds per...