Truth in Advertising
Once upon a time
we used to believe everything that we read in an advertisement or heard on the
radio or saw on TV. There was something called “truth in advertising” whereby
we the public were reassured that the advertisers could not make claims that
were untrue. I really do not think that this applies any more.
About 40 years
ago there was a humorous saying going around about a certain political figure.
You could tell if he was lying, the joke went, if his lips were moving and
words were coming out. This is the standard that I now apply to every advertisement
on TV. As for print ads, early in the last century we were advised by another
humorist to believe nothing we read, and only half of what we see. There we
have it, the basis for a good, healthy scepticism.
A recent ad
for chocolate milk claims it is the perfect after-exercise snack, providing the
sugar and protein our muscles need. Well, I am not sure that we need all that
sugar. A cup of 2% chocolate milk provides about 28 grams of sugar. A good
DAILY amount of sugar would be 45 grams. The chocolate milk provides about 7
grams of protein. Unsweetened soy milk gives you the same amount of protein,
with only 4 grams of carbohydrate. The
calories in the chocolate milk, at 180, exceed the 140 calories you might
expect to burn in a brisk, half-hour walk. By contrast, the soy milk has only
80 calories. Even though I am not a firm believer in the calories in – calories
out theory, it just does not make sense to me to go to the trouble of walking
for 30 minutes only to the gulp down more calories than I used up. I’m not
sayin’, I’m just sayin’. You know?
