Posted on 06/08/2018 7:25:04 AM PDT by Rebelbase
Food companies have embraced a controversial tactic in their quest to sell more soda, a new study says: timing advertisements for sugary drinks to the days states distribute food stamp benefits.
On any given day, grocery shoppers are likely to see soda displays in stores, researchers found.
But they are two to four times as likely to come across them when food stamps go out.
The study, which relied on 2011 data from the New York State Department of Health and which will appear later this year in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, is the latest to suggest there's more to America's nutrition gap than a lack of healthy choices or health education.
Low-income Americans drink far more soda than their wealthier neighbors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, has recently come under fire for the amount federal benefits recipients spend on sugary beverages, with some critics calling on the federal government to ban soda purchases.
But this study demonstrates those trends are not entirely the fault of low-income shoppers, who are disproportionately bombarded by junk-food ads, said Alyssa Moran, the lead author of the paper and an assistant professor of health and social policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"People will argue that individuals are ultimately responsible for their choices, but we know that the environment in which we make choices matters," Moran said. "This study is another example of industry targeting sugary beverage marketing toward lower income families."
(Excerpt) Read more at greensboro.com ...
Well, it certainly has turned in to that, over the past several decades.
I’d bet most food companies increase ad buys during those windows. It’s the smart move. Especially because it’s not just welfare people getting money then, plenty of folks get paid first and 15th or 15th and last (including every software job I ever had). Advertise when your customers have money.
Hasn’t this been going on for 40 years?
Moran said. “This study is another example of industry targeting sugary beverage marketing toward consumers.”
Ya pays yer money, and yer takes yer choice...
Put sugary beverages off limits to food stamp purchasers.
Simple really.
I am one of those people.
“Easily addressed. Just make it a prohibited item for food stamp purchase.”
I remember when soft drinks, candy, chips, ice cream, deli items and many other things were verboten with food stamps.
Nothing but staples were allowed. Fresh produce, meat, seafood, dairy (milk, cheese, eggs), frozen vegetables (no frozen dinners or pizzas) and canned goods.
That system worked great. Families on food stamps bought nutritious food. They scraped their change together for soft drinks and chips.
Another example of something not broken being fixed.
I would disagree.
I think the main purpose of the food stamp program is to give politicians power over the voters.
Footnote—they are most likely to use mass transit.... :-)
Exactly, like these ginormous behemoths are going to choose the hardship that will come with taking it to the streets for two or three weeks? Has there ever been a revolution where the poor weren’t participating?
I often wonder what would happen if everyone’s cell phone quit working—you might see real mobs of howling entertainment-starved fatties then.
Freegards
So what? With all the problems our country faces who cares?
The real problem is that WTF are so many people on food stamps?
YES...what you said....I avoid COSTCO on certain days...because of just that.
I read and saw pictures of food stamp recipients buying cases of the cheapest store brand soda, pouring them out in the parking lot then going back in to return the empty cans for $$.
you just read my mind.
Was going to post something about going to the casino on the 1st of the month..
I thought that sodas like certain fruit drinks that didn't meet the percent whole juice guidelines were disallowed for food stamp purchases. If that's not the case then the simple solution is to disallow them.
Years ago, there were items that were prohibited from food stamps. Soda was one of those items. Then, someone decided the government had no right to tell recipients what foods welfare would or would not pay for -— that it was demeaning to treat adults like less than paying customers. How dare we! I remember when most people thought it was demeaning to have to be on food stamps. But then it became a right to not work and collect benefits. There are legitimate reasons for some people to be on food stamps and other forms of welfare, but of course, the number of people on assistance because they cannot work, or there is no work, is pretty small, compared to the number who are on welfare. It’s good to see the government of many states requiring work for welfare, even though the number of hours they must work, is absurdly low. Now, if we could just get those people who fake a disability in order to receive benefits, back to work, that would be progress. Much of their benefits comes from social security, which fund cannot afford to pay for fakers. I have a family member who has never worked for more than a few days. She finally got disability for ptsd, which though she had had some hard knocks in life (as most of us have), was really not incapacitated at all. She did fairly well, until her children reached the age of 18, at which time benefits for them ceased. (She would not allow them to work when they turned 16, as it would decrease the family’s benefits, other than her disability, and decrease her influence over them). Now, they’re all over 18, but she is actively trying to get one of them on disability, one has a job (but “can’t” get enough hours to make more than about $100/ week). The government just paid for training for her and one of the kids to be certified for jobs that would give them the earning capacity of at least $12/hour, but she has found a counselor who is willing to say she needs more counseling for her ptsd, and more training, to get a better, less stressful job; and the child who was also trained, is afraid to take a city bus, alone. (I’m thinking mom’s hoping to get some kind of disability for panic disorder, for that one). This woman has gamed the system, and taught her children to be victims. Even as adults, they are treated like children -— not allowed to have a social life, never had a friend over, (never really allowed to HAVE friends), told what time to go to bed, where they can go (basically, nowhere, without her). It is heartbreaking to see what she has done to those children. When one of them tried to have a life, and got a full time job, she counseled him that he was being taken advantage of, and so he demanded, at her insistence, that he be given a promotion, at which time, he was fired. While he WAS working, he was made to give her 1/4 of the household expenses, which was roughly the amount she had been collecting in welfare for all three kids, before they turned 18. The kid, (who like his siblings, had never had any friends or a girlfriend), went off the deep end, and started huffing, (the only “drug” he could afford), and had a breakdown, and ended up on the psych ward) He’s one of the ones, who she’s trying to be designated “disabled”. 25 years old, and still being told what time to go to bed, and how much food he can eat, etc. It’s pathetic and heartbreaking to see how she has crippled those kids. Sorry for the long post. I needed to get all that off my chest.
“I remember when soft drinks, candy, chips, ice cream, deli items and many other things were verboten with food stamps.”
So somewhere after your memory Papsi, Koke, and the snack food industry provided an all expenses paid vacation to a group of Senators and Congressmen complete with booze, gambling and hookers?
“So somewhere after your memory Papsi, Koke, and the snack food industry provided an all expenses paid vacation to a group of Senators and Congressmen complete with booze, gambling and hookers?”
I doubt if it was that expensive.
A couple of double martini lunches and the thought of millions of Gibsmedat voters probably sealed the deal.
I cycled 8 miles today in Florida 90° heat. I can assure you no-one drinks soda after that!
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