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With consumers becoming more health conscious and trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle, is food advertising misleading consumers to make inappropriate choices.

While advertising standards govern what claims can be made in respect of the particular products or services and Food Standards Australian and New Zealand addressing some issues regarding contents of products it’s a free for all with saying whatever you like regarding the benefits of particular foods or insinuating the source of the ingredients.

A good example of a product is the Spring Valley apple juice, this advertisement was placed on the side of the tram shelter. It gives the impression of freshness, purity and nature, that the juice is derived from a natural stream with abundant wildlife in the background.

While consumers obviously know that Spring Valley product doesn’t come from a stream, it does create the overall impression of freshness, purity and nature that together projects a healthy product.

However when you look a little bit deeper at the nutritional panel, it paints a different story with 99% of the Apple juice being reconstituted. So is reconstituted juice really fresh, Does the tagline in the advertisement “where spring comes from” really give a true indication that the product contains reconstituted juice?.

Well reconstituted juice contains aseptic juice which is apple juice which is being heated to kill any bacteria and other nasty stuff installed for anywhere up to two years.

On the front of the actual Orange juice label is a mini label stating that each serve contains 9% of the daily energy intake, however the product contains 12.3% sugar.

There is also a note saying a rich source of vitamin C however the ingredients panel states that vitamin C (absorbing acid) has been added. So in effect it’s one step away from actually consuming a vitamin C tablet however in a more digestible form. It makes for an interesting question if the products is natural and pure given the added Vitamin C and what has happened to the vitamin C naturally contained within the Apple juice.

So while drinking apple juice in the reconstituted form is better than a soft drink, it does beg the question whether there should be more responsible advertising standards in regards to the messages being projected at consumers.

While this isn’t in the same category as Cokes misleading advertisements, we need to have some accountability.

Across the road from where we run our boot camps in Northcote, I came across this sign promoting the supermarket brand and that patronising these stores a will lead to the generation of funds for school sports.

It’s disturbing that our Australian school system has become reliant on large corporations to generate additional income to manage the shortfalls from what is available from the government.

The shortage of funds available to the public school sector has led to other forms of fundraising activities involving large corporations, typically this involves the school canteen whereby selling highly processed, fatty and sugary food is given precedence over healthier choices.

Unfortunately it’s all the bad food that should be consumed infrequently that tends to have the highest profit margin which in turn leads to greater income generation.

A recent report titled “Education at a Glance” produced by the Organization for Economic Development and Co-operation painted a very appalling situation in regards to Australia’s school funding reputation.

Compared to other countries, Australia ranks 26 out of a total of 28 countries in regards to the proportion of public versus private government funding. When compared to other countries for example the US where 99.8% of government funding is allocated for the public education system, only83.1% is invested in public schools.

This places enormous stress on the public school system to source additional funds from other willing participants who wish to expand their brand recognition and increase revenue of their products.

While it can be argued that supermarkets sell a range of food products, including junk food etc, it is instilling from a very young age the association with sports where one buys their food. As parents wish to support the school to generate additional funds, they will be encouraging friends and family members to participate in the program, similarly they will be trying to purchase the maximum amount of products from the supermarket.

While supermarkets dominate the food distribution landscape, (Back in 2007 this was a staggering 79% combined market share between Coles and Woolworths) we need to educate the next generation that there are other options out there when purchasing fresh fruit and vegetables.

Children who develop brand recognition as children go on to be come consumers in their adult life, they establish a loyal customer for life.

There are numerous examples of whereby the these large corporations have established lifelong customers through the early branding initiatives, one example is the money tins that were freely given away by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the 70s. Once a relationship and association has been established from a young age, the child will go on to become an adult customer.

This is a worrying trend that will not go away as schools are constantly seeking alternative forms of fundraising, fortunately the confectionery companies fundraising boxes has been banned from many schools.

Is the corporatisation of exercise a good thing? Is having fun and exercise associated with a soft drink creating or maintaining a future client base and developing brand loyalty?

I road past this Coca Cola inflatable castle on the weekend and was surprised at the expense that a corporation had gone to create awareness of there products and the association of happiness with a Coke product.
Right up there is the word happiness for all to see.

It is a sad day when we leave providing fun exercise activities to major corporations. The government seems to be very good at collecting alcohol and tabacco taxes but seems to short fall in proving health services to children and young adults.

More and more we are seeing the corporates looking at new marketing initiatives and the latest battleground is people’s health and wellness.