The Ads That Changed The Way You Grocery Shop

Madi Kregel
mk790316@ohio.edu

I'm going to be that person and talk about it- Advertisements about foods that are labeled "Non GMO".

First off, a GMO is short for a genetically modified organism. Minerals such as salt cannot be modified but plants and animals can be. (The source of this information is from my Agriculture 4 class in high school). Non GMO (to most) means the product is not or does not contain genetically modified organisms.

Labeling foods "Non GMO" or "Clean" became a tactic for companies who were looking to market toward people who were looking for food that seemed healthy to eat.

I think the picture attached sums up the point here nicely. Company's advertise that their products are non GMO or part of the Non GMO project so customers would be willing to pay more for their product because it is "healthier."

I found this off of a twitter post from a food science account. Twitter handle is @foodscibabe

What most consumers don't realize, is that there are many foods and products or foods out there that have no GMO's at all, like oranges. So why label something Non GMO if there are already no GMO's in it?

Consumer anxiety is why. This article, though from 2015, has a great explanation as to why popular companies such as Chipotle and Whole Foods decided to tap into this purchasing.

So it this false advertising? No, because there really are no GMO's in the product. However, the product could have been created through Biotechnology.

I once saw an add for "Seedless Watermelon" that had the Non GMO Project butterfly on it. You cannot organically grow a watermelon without it containing seeds. So why can a company do that? Because they are not required to disclose whether it is or isn't a GMO or a product of Biotechnology.

Biotechnology, according to the FDA, includes in vitro techniques that include injecting (I know scary word) DNA into cells or "organelles." This is done to exceed the plant/animals natural reproductive barriers in a way for it to produce more desirable features and outcomes.

 So you can inject DNA that includes a gene that gets rid of seed production into a watermelon with seeds in it, so that once you plant those seeds the watermelon that does grow will not have seeds in it. If that makes sense?

But why don't companies just advertise that? I think it's the same reason why when most people hear "inject DNA" they begin to raise some moral flags. Not everyone is going to do the work to figure out what kind of DNA is being injected into their food and why it was done, and I can't help but think that companies have the same idea.

Do you think every companies head of marketing knows exactly what kinds of DNA are injected into their products, or if they raise their products through biotechnology at all? I have a feeling that's a big no. The FDA does not require them to disclose whether or not the product contains GMO's or products made through Biotechnology, so they won't if they don't have to.

Should they? Ethically speaking, I think it makes more sense to disclose why the products were raised the way they were. Not only would it give consumers a piece of mind about their next meal, but it gives the company a solid platform of their own beliefs and actions being shown to the consumers.

I included a lot of links in this blog, and each backs up a statement or definition of something included in my writing. I wanted to be thorough as possible on this topic. The Information about the FDA in the second to last paragraph was obtained from the same link that was included in the definition of Biotechnology.