Influence: Doing More Harm Than Good

04.17.10

Last night Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution was on TV and #FoodRevolution was an organic trend on twitter.

At the same moment, a manufactured trend occurred, it was #Lunchables.

I am embarrassed for the women would take their hard earned social capital and give it to a product that is killing our kids and our planet. If you are giving your child a steady diet of processed food you are not parenting as well as you should be. If your child is getting mounds of sugar in their meals, you are gifting them diabetes. When lunches come in disposable plastic you are ruining the planet for everyone, don’t give me the “they can be recycled” line. We all know they won’t be. Cheese is made of milk, it shouldn’t appear shiny or waxy, it is not a delicacy to be unfolded from cellophane.

Watch this and you tell me if you trust women that encourage you to feed your children Lunchables.

I am off to the market, as I am about to create a series of videos for you. I hope you find them appalling.

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  • http://www.slynnro.blogspot.com slynnro

    My mom fed me Lunchables. But she didn’t love me, so I guess that makes sense.

  • http://cheatymonkey.com Haley-O (Cheaty)

    That video is appalling. I’m SO glad Jamie Oliver is on the case. We need more educators/influencers like him (and you). I don’t understand “Lunchables,” or how one could market such a product to kids/parents in good conscience. It’s exactly the opposite direction we need to be going in. There IS a food revolution happening — at the level of the consumer (more and more every day, but a long way to go).

    For things like Lunchables, above all, I blame the marketers, and the corporations who value their bottom line over our children’s health, who will take advantage of trusting parents (who absolutely need to start thinking critically about these things). I have so many friends who just trust and/or “don’t care” about processed food, and I don’t understand — so much is at stake.

  • http://www.tashsparkles.wordpress.com Natasha

    I think we can all agree Mommyhood is HARD. Having said that, I think we can all see why mommy bloggers seem like the second coming: a network of seasoned moms there to help navigate mommyhood and keep us rookies from making silly mistakes.
    I used to have a blanket level of trust for the mommy bloggers who looked like they had their sh*t together.
    This Twitter party in particular helped open my eyes.
    On a side note, I was so astonished by the party that I apparently committed a Twitter party foul. I sent 2 tweets with the #lunchables hashtag that were pleas to sign Jamie Oliver’s food petition. I was then scolede by the host for spamming the hast tag. Then I was called riff raff in a subsequent tweet. Oh well :)

    • http://Candace@NaturallyEducational Candace

      I am not entirely anti-twitter party, if done in a real conversation-based way, but people really need to learn that on-topic conversation, even if it does not toe the party line, is NOT spam. No one “owns” a hashtag and Twitter is a public forum. And someone promoting healthy eating is certainly not “riff-raff”. I wasn’t online during this party so I don’t know much about how it was structured…but I am sorry to hear you were treated that way.

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  • http://www.cathybrooks.com Cathy Brooks

    For the record, I don’t have kids. I do, however, have nieces, nephews and a cavalcade of wonderful children from friends in my life – none of whom, I am pleased to report, are subjected to the type of poison you mention. The fact that there are people so deeply seduced in this manner – to the detriment and even the danger of their children … I’m appalled.

    Hell, I have pets, and the minute I found out about pet foods that weren’t good for my dog and cat, I stopped buying them – even when the poisoned brands tried giving me discounts and free stuff.

  • http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com Kristen

    A Lunchables twitter party? I’m sorry, but it’s just embarrassing. I’m with you, Jessica. Mommy bloggers, we’ve got to do better if we want to maintain any credibility.

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  • http://www.momdot.com trisha

    Oh, but Jess, those baby belles are so good when they hit your lips…

    trisha

  • http://www.absenceofalternatives.com submom

    Jessica, what is it about you? I work full time and travels for business and in general let other people care for my kids when I can NOT because I need to. I feed my kids processed food. I would say more than 50% of their meals are processed food. I should have steered away from your blog really. What is it about you that I cannot help but like you? There is this X factor I can’t quite figure out yet. That when your post is supposed to get me all riled up, and offended and defensive, I read it, and actually nodded my head!

  • http://queenofshakeshake.com Heather, Queen of Shake Shake

    Jessica, I’m a mom of a kid who can’t have artificial dyes because of the behavioral problems they cause. So I get the whole food revolution thing and I believe in a more natural diet.

    But do we get the “attract more flies with honey” thing?

    Maybe there are large groups of people who are inspired to change by being negatively judged and made to feel inferior, but I haven’t met them yet.

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  • http://birdonthestreet.blogspot.com katy

    You are always to the point, Jessica, and while I do not always agree with you, I agree with your assertion that women should be careful about who they affiliate with.

    That said, I’ve seen moms recommending lunchables to other moms on Facebook with no compensation provided–some people are simply unaware. I worked with the poor for a couple of years and children would sometimes pass out from poor nutrition. It’s a worry when you are affluent enough to worry about it. Yes, some are more aware and don’t care, but I dont’ think shaming them will change their behavior.

  • http://wwwjackbenimble.blogspot.com Jack

    Mommy bloggers, we’ve got to do better if we want to maintain any credibility.

    Let’s not take ourselves too seriously. We’re parents. Sometimes we swing for the fences and strike out, sometimes we hit a home run.

    • http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com Kristen

      Moms who write blogs of a certain readership are being lured by corporations to shill their wares – so it’s more than just “being parents”. Bloggers are a huge media influence right now, some of us getting pitches in our inbox all day long. I was just at a social media event speaking to these very issues, and companies are chomping at the bit for all of this free publicity. It is a position of influence, and pimping Lunchables is not a good use of that power.

  • http://www.bigmamacass.com/ BigMamaCass

    That is so scary. My two year old knows what most of those are. He is a veggie addict. I am SOOOO happy about that right this moment. Wow.

  • http://goodgoog.com Zoey @ Good Goog

    I’m continually surprised by the lack of knowledge around food (real food that is). I raised a few eyebrows with my whole attitude of ‘my baby is not eating refined sugar’ stance. And a few people told me ‘it’s impossible to avoid’. Well, it’s not impossible to avoid. It just means that sometimes you’re cooking lunch when you’d rather be napping. My toddlers diet isn’t perfect, but I think it’s far better to aim high.

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