What Should Be Done About "Big Sugar"?

How dangerous are added sugars? Well, there is no nutritional need for added sugars, and according to Kieron Rooney, “big sugar could be the next big public health campaign.” Rooney reports that there is not a single study that shows added sugar is good for you. If it is so unhealthy for us then why aren’t we doing anything to prevent consumption of it? That’s a question I don’t know the answer to, but I do believe that there should be some regulations for companies that use added sugar.

First I think the government should tax companies on the use of added sugar, and give tax breaks to those that use healthier sweeteners. This would discourage the use of added sugar, and hopefully encourage companies to use a healthier option. This will not however solve the problem; the richer companies will still probably use added sugar because they can afford to pay the tax.

Secondly, companies should not be allowed to market their products directly to children. Companies using animated characters like Toucan Sam or the Trix rabbit to influence kids to buy their products should be more regulated. It makes sense for companies to target children because they are easily influenced, but I don’t believe that is ethically right. Preventioninstitute.org says, nearly all (98 percent) of food advertisements viewed by children are for products that are high in fat, sugar or sodium. Most (79 percent) are low in fiber. As a marketer we should be morally obligated to not intentionally mislead consumers. I believe that’s what many of these companies targeting children are doing. They are taking advantage of children not understanding what they are putting into their bodies.

Finally companies should be required to be socially responsible. Companies that are selling products that are potentially unsafe should have to provide information on how it will affect you. Some government agencies are already doing this; one example of it is the New York City Health departments “Pour on the Pounds” campaign. The campaign shows you how much sugar you are actually consuming in drinks like soda, juice, and coffee. This shouldn’t have to be left to health departments to educate people on what they are consuming. Marketers should be informing us of what we are putting in our body; we should not have to search for the information ourselves.

Got Insurance?

The “Got Insurance” campaign is for residents of Colorado to compare prices on health insurance plans. The campaign itself is very clever. They pretty much stole the old “Got Milk” campaign that proved to be very effective for the dairy industry. It has a very good tag line, which makes it easy to remember. These ads also use fear appeals really well. Showing the consumer what the risk of not having health insurance is. Here is one of the many ads they have created; I think this one uses the fear appeal very well.

The campaign also uses some humor appeals to relate to its audience. Here is one that most college students can relate to.

All of their ads can be found at http://doyougotinsurance.com/. I think this campaign will be very effective at getting attention and getting people to think about their health insurance. A quote from the article, Meet The People Behind The 'Brosurance' Obamacare Ads ThatAre Making The Internet Cringe, says “"We've seen both positive and negative reactions, but if people are seeing the ads and purchasing health insurance, that's a good thing." I think that is the mark of a good advertising campaign. They were able to get people talking about their service. It may not all be good, but they are creating awareness for the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.