Religious Junk Food
Date Friday, March 29, 2024 - 08:57 AM PST
Topic Religion


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

This article comes from Shmeng
http://www.shmeng.com/

The URL for this story is:
http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=620