Tuesday
Nov052013
Food: We're Doing It Wrong -- Fast Food Marketing, Poverty, and Food Security
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Two significant food-related reports were released today. One of them, Fast Food Facts, looks at fast food marketing in the United States and found that the industry spent $4.2 billion on advertising in 2012. The other one, Hunger Count, looks at food bank use in Canada and found that 833,098 people turned to a food bank in Canada in March 2013. These reports are both significant because they point to important issues relating to health and food security in North America. They are related because our capitalist society values and promotes advertising as increasing choice, while at the same time continuing to support an unsustainable food system that ensures low income families have little to no choice.