The Corn Refiners Association has become really aggressive in their advertising in the last few years because of declining sales of products that use high fructose corn syrup. See (Corn) Sugar Is (Cane) Sugar – the Corn Refiners Association’s Ship of Deception Named High Fructose Corn Syrup Is Sinking

I don’t know if anyone has noticed how misleading the last few Corn Refiners Association commercials have been. There are 2 campaigns that I’m thinking of, that have been running for quite some time (and continue to run). It’s actually shocking what they can get away with saying. Here’s a breakdown:

Campaign #1

Your Body Can’t Tell the Difference
In the very beginning of the commercial he says he has questions about the food he and his daughter eats – things LIKE high fructose corn syrup. Then he says he started getting answers from medical and nutrition experts and then declares “whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar – your body can’t tell the difference”. They have another one with a mom – same exact message. Click here to view the commercial.

The Problem
The HUGE problem here is that high fructose corn syrup is NOT just plain ole corn sugar. To make high fructose corn syrup they take corn syrup that comes from corn that’s already been genetically modified (to produce it more cheaply, more quickly and more resistant to pesticides) and then chemically modify it to convert the glucose in the corn syrup to fructose, so it’s more like table sugar – but a LOT less expensive. Which is why a lot of companies are using it in food. Even if they COULD prove that your body doesn’t know the difference between corn sugar and cane sugar – there is no way that you can say your body doesn’t know the difference between a natural product like sugar and an unnatural, genetically and chemically modified product like high fructose corn syrup.

Campaign #2

You KNOW What they say…
There are several other commercials that involve people being offered food with high fructose corn syrup in it and responding with “you know what they say about high fructose corn syrup”, getting rebuffed by the offerer stating that it’s fine in moderation and then the other person stammers because they don’t know what to say back.

The Problem
It’s not really fine in moderation. And we can’t possibly be eating it in moderate amounts because it’s in EVERYTHING WE EAT - unless we are careful – which most people are not. See this great news story that shows clips from the commercials.

Lawsuit

The ad campaigns are so misleading that The Western Sugar Cooperative and other sugar farmers are now suing the Corn Refiners Association and some of the bigger corn processors to stop them from promoting high fructose corn syrup as a “natural” product that is the equivalent of sugar.

See Sugar Farmers Sue Corn Processors for Falsely Marketing High-Fructose Corn Syrup as ‘Sugar’