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| Articles: Religious Junk Food |
Posted by
Cashmere on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 12:14 AM PST
The Beginning...
They opened a new drug store near my apartment, a brand spanking new Walgreens that is larger than even the nearest grocery store. It has its own automatic doors that swing out instead of slide to the left, and it is right above a popular subway station. The company went so far as to redesign the facade of the building so that their store looks cleaner and more impressive than any other on their block, since there was no room to put their own building. To top it off, it is open twenty four hours a day.
Since all the other drug stores in the area close at around ten or eleven, it is really great for college students who need something in the middle of the night. I went there last night* to buy random junk food. I came out with a package of random chemically processed crunchy stuff and a carton of orange juice. The crunchy stuff wasn’t too bad though, it wasn’t soggy and you couldn’t eat too much of it at the same time. Even with my hippie tendencies and my suspicion of chemically processed foods I liked them. That is, until I read the back...
The manufacturer had listed the ten commandments on the back of the package. They followed a little story he narrated about when he stole peaches as a kid because he was poor. He went on to tell how this was not right because stealing was wrong and that no one should ever do it. Because stealing is wrong, and crimes committed as a child should haunt you for the rest of your life. In essence, regret should be felt and there is no repentance. I can live with that. Following this story, the list of the Ten Commandments paraphrased from the King James Bible.
The Confusion...
Maybe I missed something. When is it acceptable to attach morality to conspicuous consumption? Are the people eating this kind of crap all christian except me? I can understand trying to relate a story on an object that is relevant to the product inside, but what do peaches have to do with junk food? Family owned companies generally have higher quality products that their commercial counterparts, and from what I have seen the addition of stories on their products lend to that atmosphere of love and consideration for a foodstuff. I would think that these stories be happy, attach a pleasant feeling to said product, making the consumer buy more. It is a good idea for smaller companies to do this sort of thing since they do have to compete with corporations that can fund their own commercials (because of course, people buy what they see on TV...). I can see advertising that your products are made only with real ingredients. What I cannot understand is why a person would attach a memory with unpleasant moral connotations to a snack food, preceding excerpts from a severely edited religious text.
Do they expect their entire consumer base to be christian and follow the King James bible? I know that it is acceptable to place religious texts in public places around not for profit organizations. I think that in the proper places that they give people hope and a sense of the positive when they believe everything has been lost. Overtly Christian propaganda does not offend me, and I can understand why people do these things. However, that is specific for things that are not bringing in revenue for reasons other than religious affiliation. Is it acceptable to place a religious backing on a product that is supposed to appeal to people of all faiths? Or is snack food now only made for certain religions? Has segregations between faiths come as far as what people eat?
Another part that confuses me is the choice of religious text. I know the ten commandments are a large part of christian, especially protestant beliefs and practices. I also know that they differ greatly from each version of the bible. Is it wise to place a specific version on a secular food product? Is it wise to place a very small portion of a belief system on semi nationwide proportions? (the snack company is in Michigan). I readily confess to not knowing much about advertisement, but I would think that is an unwise business move. The christians who believe the same things would eat the snack food regardless of whether or not the commandments were written on the package.
Final Thoughts...
What about the rest of the population? Can I eat this food if I am not Christian, or if I believe the commandments are relative? What if I believe that the laws are outdated, or if they neeed amendments? I guess I am not worthy to eat this junk food then.
This also makes me wonder how many people have caught this. Are most people not worried about chastisements and morality on their food? Or am I the only idiot who actually reads the stuff that comes on the packages?
*- Last night being December Third, 2003
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| Religious Junk Food | Login/Create an account | 14 Comments |
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Re: Religious Junk Food
by feralucce (Iwouldliketokillyou@gofuckyourself.com)
on Dec 07, 2003 - 08:47 AM
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Conspicuous consumption has never been a problem acording the the christian texts... just because it is noticable, does not mean that it is gluttony... I cite an example in my own life... I and a CLOSE friend of mine are both on leptoprine... while our caloric intake has increased, it is not obscene... since we are alreaday large mammals, our consumption is noticed, but 2500 calories a day is not what I would call gluttonous.
BUT, honestly, I believe the primary reason that this company does this is that people feel that by giving a little spirituality that requires no effort furthers them spiritually. It makes them feel better about what scraps of a soul they possess while it costs them, essentially, nothing. As for the displa in public versus commercial: I honestly feel that religion has no place in the average public forum reguardless of the prevailing religious climate. Conversely... if someone has enough clout to be able to do it on their product packaging... more power to them.
Obligatory socialist commentary: You know, all abuses of package forum ranting could be avoided in a straightforward and simple way.
Lastly: don't feel bad... all the new Walgreens have the sparkling facade.
Feral
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Re: Religious Junk Food
by bettie_x (strangersangel@hotmail.com)
on Dec 07, 2003 - 11:43 AM
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I don't think I"ve ever run across something like that, and I do find it ODD, but not really that shocking. I do agree with your idea that you would at least THINK that if they're going to put a religious message on the back of their product, they would want to put one that would generally make the consumer feel GOOD, not threatened or guilty. ESPECIALLY leave out the guilt, as it IS a snack food afterall....If I were them and wanted to spread the word on the back of a bag of my crunchies I'd maybe put "Jesus loves you!" or "Jesus tested, God approved" or something like that. WIERDOS.
I HAVE however seen little "morality" tales or even just straight up fables on food products, my favorites were on "fantastic foods" soup cups, but they stopped doing it for some reason. I loved those little stories, my favorite fable of all was found on the paper lid of minestrone called "1000 seahorses". More people should do stuff like that, it makes me all happy to think of their soup now. Only they shouldn't do it like your snack company, because they'd just make me feel all shifty and wierd and needing a shower.
It also kind of reminds me of that world church in "stranger in a strange land" where they own the television stations and their own food/drink/snack/booze labels which they advertise during their televangecal sessions.
"Remember! Don't drink the vodka of heathens! Only GOOD christians drink [suchandsuchjesusbrand] vodka! Check for the church seal accept no substitutes!"
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Re: Religious Junk Food
by Anya on Dec 07, 2003 - 10:29 PM
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Frankly, I do not understand why people should be advertising that kind of stuff on supposedly secular stuff. I can understand the US having "God" in their pledges and even accept the President being a die-hard Christian, but I think putting that stuff on secular products is going a bit too far. They're allowed to practise their faith...so why should they be advertising it anymore...especially since they're already 66% of the population. As a consumer of the food there's likely other things to worry about for me, but as a person who is growing a pet peeve for die-hard fanaticism, this worries me...
If they're going to do that, then people should be allowed to make products with mythologies, Buddhism, Shintoism, and all of those guys' teachings. Or is that considered an "attack on their religion"...heh...
PS: A friend of mine in Michigan actually mentioned how there's a lot of Bible-thumpers in the company he works at...wonder if this article's topic has anything to do with that...
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Religious Bathing Products
by Kira (mod_complexathotmaildotcom)
on Dec 07, 2003 - 10:39 PM
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This reminds me of the first time I ever came across Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap.
If you've never heard of it, it's a liquid based no-animal product soap that a lot of hippy-dippy people take camping because it doesn't dump chemicals into the willderness.
So my roommate brings some home one day, and convinces me to try it in the shower. It feels absolutely AWESOME and tingly all over (and I do mean ALL over) on a hot day. So, just as I'm ready to buy stock in the company, I check out the bottle and every possible inch of the label is covered in scripture. Not just scripture, but crazy rambling scripture about how cleanlines and soap can save your soul. I swear, this guy is the original Tyler Durden.
They have the labels online now, so you can see for youself. I love technology. Buy some soap while you're there, because it rules and the scripture on the bottle is good toilet reading.
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Re: Religious Junk Food
by Domkitten (saradevil@saradevil.com)
on Dec 18, 2003 - 09:32 PM
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You know, it's not until you've been without junk food at all for a long time that you start to apprciate the silliness of American style junk food. Don't get me wrong, a popular Korean junk food is chocolate covered squid nuts, but wouldn't it be so much funnier if that little white package with a Choclate covered squid on it came with a cross and the commandments on the back?
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