Are food industry executives thinking and acting like drug dealers? Just a couple of days after I made that exact comparison here’s this video.
Before anyone mentions that the industry is just selling what people want, consider this from a blog post at TreeHugger:
This is usually where someone chimes in with arguments about freedom of choice, free markets and personal responsibility. And this is where the analogy between fast food and hard drugs becomes particularly useful. We don’t allow drug dealers to pedal crack cocaine for a very good reason – and we certainly don’t let them put up billboards, advertise to our kids, or lobby congress.
Freedom of choice does not work for people who are addicted. Although I would prefer to compare junk food addiction to smoking, rather than crack cocaine. That may be slightly over the top.
Is it a fair comparison? What do you think?
