Farm vs market price doesn't equal profit. Processing has a cost too. As does transportation (a rising cost now). I don't know what the profits are on potato chips or apples, but I can tell you that simply looking at the difference between the price paid to the farmer and the price in the grocery store doesn't tell you that.
advertising, and in shelf space- like those lovely end caps- prime retail space in the super market.
When I go into Krogers, some kind of fruit is the first thing I see. I see a large produce area that seems to take up more space than the chips and nuts aisle. When I look at an advertising circular in the paper, I see ads for apples, potatoes, chips, cereal, milk - everything they have to offer. Those newspaper ads are important - lots and lots of people pore through them.
I'm not sure what ads you're talking about. Maybe the ads that I can recall seeing on Saturday morning cartoon shows from when I was a kid - Keebler elves etc. I guess stuff like that is still on the air, for whatever its worth.
I see a lot of foods touting health benefits these days. And a lot of food ads touting health features of this or that cereal or whatever. I mentioned going through the cereal aisle of a store - in addition to the highly sweetened junky types, there are numerous cereals pushing fiber, multi and whole grains, there is oatmeal promising to reduce cholesterol and so on and so on.
Point is, people can buy healthy foods if they want. They aren't forced by economics or advertising to buy junk. They buy junk cause they want it. |
