"Funny" Food Marketing

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  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Those 'zero calorie' butter sprays. 2nd and 3rd ingredients are oils :confounded:

    cr2e6t1ztu91.jpg

    I always wonder how many people who say they log every calorie even know that they should log 10 calories per squirt of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter spray (note you aren't likely to just spray 1g so adding 10 to your log per spray is a good guideline to follow). It's only through labelling law magic that you can have a margarine spray that has the exact calories as regular solid margarine become calorie free! Most people will put several squirts on their popcorn and other foods and have no idea that they just added around 100 calories to their food without. I've pointed this out to several people who were genuinely surprised by this simple fact.

    It's extremely difficult to find the entry that actually lists the calories too. I found one though.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Those 'zero calorie' butter sprays. 2nd and 3rd ingredients are oils :confounded:

    cr2e6t1ztu91.jpg

    I always wonder how many people who say they log every calorie even know that they should log 10 calories per squirt of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter spray (note you aren't likely to just spray 1g so adding 10 to your log per spray is a good guideline to follow). It's only through labelling law magic that you can have a margarine spray that has the exact calories as regular solid margarine become calorie free! Most people will put several squirts on their popcorn and other foods and have no idea that they just added around 100 calories to their food without realizing it. I've pointed this out to several people who were genuinely surprised by this simple fact.

    It's still water as first ingredient though. I weighed my pan the other day and got 3g of pam on it, and I still had no idea how to log it (I think I counted 15 calories).

    Or I was making a cake years ago using Splenda (never again) and couldn't for the life of me find an entry that had the actual calorie count for one cup of it... they all said 0 a serving. Sigh.
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
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    sarjenki wrote: »
    It annoys me to see small individual packets of foods that most would think of as single serve that are actually multiple servings. I know they do this so that people will read the label and think, that's not as many calories as I thought and buy it, when actually there are 4, 100 calorie servings in the package. If individual sized packages are advertised as xxx calories, that should be the calorie information for that whole package.
    Just goes back to having to read the label.
    Also, although others have mentioned the need for gluten free labeling, I find the label of "gluten free" on dairy products to be annoying. It may be "necessary", but I find it hard to believe that selling the stuff to ignorant people who don't know what gluten free is and think that it is in and of itself helpful for weight loss is not at least part of the reason that put that label on the bag of cheese.

    Yes! Like with instant ramen noodles. Or Pop Tarts. Why you gotta have two servings in there?
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
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    To this day when I see or hear a funny marketing slogan I still think about when Life Savers were labeled "A Fat Free Food".
  • crystalewhite
    crystalewhite Posts: 422 Member
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    Piggy backing on the fat free bandwagon, remember the Olestra chips from the 90's?
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
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    karintalley wrote: »
    Well, i,buy light because its less calories. Light Ranch is like half the calories. Why wouldn't i if i like the flavour?
    I compare labels. What do i get more food for less calories. Nothing wrong with that.

    Many times products listed as "low fat"/"fat free" are loaded up with extra sugar, starches and sodium.
    Personal preference of course, but I'd rather have less of the full fat.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    edited March 2018
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    Wheelhouse15 wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Those 'zero calorie' butter sprays. 2nd and 3rd ingredients are oils :confounded:

    cr2e6t1ztu91.jpg

    I always wonder how many people who say they log every calorie even know that they should log 10 calories per squirt of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter spray (note you aren't likely to just spray 1g so adding 10 to your log per spray is a good guideline to follow). It's only through labelling law magic that you can have a margarine spray that has the exact calories as regular solid margarine become calorie free! Most people will put several squirts on their popcorn and other foods and have no idea that they just added around 100 calories to their food without realizing it. I've pointed this out to several people who were genuinely surprised by this simple fact.

    It's still water as first ingredient though. I weighed my pan the other day and got 3g of pam on it, and I still had no idea how to log it (I think I counted 15 calories).

    Or I was making a cake years ago using Splenda (never again) and couldn't for the life of me find an entry that had the actual calorie count for one cup of it... they all said 0 a serving. Sigh.

    I was referring to the margarine sprays, although I realize that's a cooking spray, since they are equivalent to their solid counterparts. Cooking spray shouldn't actually add too much since you only get a bit of absorption anyway.

    Also, remember that they go by weight not by volume for most labels so water is denser and will come first even if the volume is mostly oils, especially when they use multiple oils. You could easily have something that has mostly oil yet still has water listed first.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Marilyn0924 wrote: »
    karintalley wrote: »
    Well, i,buy light because its less calories. Light Ranch is like half the calories. Why wouldn't i if i like the flavour?
    I compare labels. What do i get more food for less calories. Nothing wrong with that.

    Many times products listed as "low fat"/"fat free" are loaded up with extra sugar, starches and sodium.
    Personal preference of course, but I'd rather have less of the full fat.

    There's plenty of stuff that is low fat that doesn't have a bunch of added sugar and whatnot. I prefer low fat dairy because I'd rather spend my calories elsewhere. My favorite salad dressing is Newman's Own Light Balsamic...it's not pumped full of a bunch of sugar and whatnot either.

    I actually think this is more myth than anything else...most stuff I see that has a bunch of added sugar in it and marketed as "low fat" wasn't high fat to begin with...like cereals and whatnot.
  • GretaGirl8
    GretaGirl8 Posts: 274 Member
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    DebLaBounty wrote: »
    I saw a “gluten free” label on rice. Well, duh.

    At least in the case of foods containing non-gluten grains--an argument could be made that the label is trying to assure you that the product was not contaminated with gluten as it may have been processed in a facility that processes products containing gluten.

    I was at a restaurant the other day and a woman asked for a gluten free menu--which the restaurant had. She then proceeded to ask the waitress if olives had gluten in them. olives. am I missing something?

  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Marilyn0924 wrote: »
    karintalley wrote: »
    Well, i,buy light because its less calories. Light Ranch is like half the calories. Why wouldn't i if i like the flavour?
    I compare labels. What do i get more food for less calories. Nothing wrong with that.

    Many times products listed as "low fat"/"fat free" are loaded up with extra sugar, starches and sodium.
    Personal preference of course, but I'd rather have less of the full fat.

    There's plenty of stuff that is low fat that doesn't have a bunch of added sugar and whatnot. I prefer low fat dairy because I'd rather spend my calories elsewhere. My favorite salad dressing is Newman's Own Light Balsamic...it's not pumped full of a bunch of sugar and whatnot either.

    I actually think this is more myth than anything else...most stuff I see that has a bunch of added sugar in it and marketed as "low fat" wasn't high fat to begin with...like cereals and whatnot.

    Just had to buy a second bottle of this to keep at the office.

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