Traps for food consumers. Attention, you are being manipulated!

Traps for food consumers. Attention, you are being manipulated!

Food production is a big business and, like any other business, it seeks to develop and increase the volume of its products. Growth in food production suggests that the consumer will spend more money on food, and therefore consume more food, that is, increase their portions. This is what my blog is about today.

Here are some of the newest ways in which the food industry convinces us to buy more.

Optimistic promises:

Let’s reflect on commercials related to food that we regularly see on television.

Adverts tend to show emotional life stories, where a man who has worked hard all day eats something hungrily; a photo montage of a party in which everyone is laughing and eating together; a husband and wife cooking an appetizing dinner together.

These commercials are permeated with happiness, pleasure, idyllic scenarios and, in every case, food. Advertising provokes positive emotions within us. The purpose of marketing this abundance of food is to link the process of eating in our subconscious mind, not with the concept of survival, but with the emotional aspect of our existence. In other words, they are trying to convince us that eating food is not a simple physical act necessary for the human body to function normally, but an opportunity, by consuming a large amount of different foods, to receive emotional pleasure and, thus, how to spend most of your free time. To celebrate the significant events in our life is, to welcome guests, and to eat, to spend time alone with your loved one. This is not speculation, but a well-known proven fact.
Large food companies have large budgets to explore what makes us buy a particular product. Furthermore, they base their advertising activities on the results of these studies. The giants of the food industry know that when you make purchases before a holiday, a scene from the commercial of the product they are planning to sell will stick in your memory and most likely you will buy this product in the supermarket.

Portion sizes.

Foods sold in grocery stores display information about their nutritional composition (calories, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, etc.). The label is placed directly on the food product, in a prominent place. The manufacturer knows that it is unpleasant for the buyer to buy a product that, for example, says that it contains 800 calories. What are they doing? Replacing the numbers so that they appear more acceptable to you. The calorie content of a product containing 200 calories is replaced by 20, only 12 grams. And now, note that you have the calorie content of 1 cookie on a package consisting of 40.

The problem of food in the restaurant is that in these places we always try to finish everything that’s on our plate, or that we’ve ordered.

For example, you ordered pasta for lunch, which is served with two accompanying dishes and a drink. You are not informed about the caloric content of each product included in your order, only the total average number of calories of the main course is given.

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