Just When I Thought BET Had Destroyed the Black Community Enough, Here Comes The Corn Refiners Association!

So the other day, I was at the gym I was watching the new episode of Project Runway while I tried to get my Beyonce Knowles workout on. On commercial break an ad came on that highly disturbed and perturbed me. It was exalting the alleged benefits of high fructose corn syrup!! Please take a second to watch.

Now I found this video problematic from start to finish! Lets dissect, shall we.........

1. Why Did the Lady Pouring herself Drink* have to be a sister!?

* Drink for those of you who may not know is a term used to describe any sort of tasty liquid that is not made from 100 percent juice but some combination of concentrate, sugar/ corn syrup and water. Its often described on the bottle as "Juice Drink". Common examples include Sunny Delight, Tampico, Veryfine and my personal favorite Hugs. It is often the cheapest beverage in the store and I find it protects my stomach well from the spicy tail end of a delicious hot wing.

I just think that this commercial has reinforced the stereotype of black people making unhealthy food choices. Yeah diabetes and hypertension are prominent in our community but perhaps it wold have helped serve as an example if she had made better food choices. At least she said it was ok in moderation.... we will follow up on this comment later.

2. Captain Save a Black Person aka Becky:

Notice how Becky the local nosy neighbor swooped down on the sister. Why is it that white people feel that they have the liberty to step in where they are not invited and instruct you whats wrong!? The makers of this commercial knew what was up with a Sista and how she would react and instead of suffering a fine for offense language toned the commercial down. However allow me to translate the conversation and provide an alternate ending.

Becky: "Wow you don't care what the kids eat" Translation: I know you did not ask me to come over here however because I feel that I have a certain entitlement I am going to come over here and be nosy and tell you how to raise your child while my own child is running around in the background like she has no hometraining

Sista: Excuse Me? Translation: Oh no this heifer did not just come over here

Becky: " That has high fructose corn syrup in it" Translation: Let me educate this black woman because I know so much more than everyone!

Sista: "And?" Translation: You need to mind your business hopefully by my tone you will get some sense and go away

Becky: "You know they say about it?" Translation: Whether you know so or not I am going to tell you about it anyhow

Sista: "Like What" Translation : I hope you see me looking at you as if you have lost your mind coming over here interrupting my summer drink

Becky: Now in the real world this is when Sista would have told Becky mind your damn own business and do not come up to her as a random telling her how to raise her kids without any facts. Followed up with a few more choice words that could not be shown on tv.

I need all the Becky's out there to fall back. Even for the percentage of you who men well, you are setting yourself up for the curse out.

3. The Deceptive High Fructose Corn Syrup Propaganda

This is yet another example of how you want to always do your homework. I am going to school you a bit on high fructose corn syrup. First, corn farmers one of the most powerful lobbying groups on Capital Hill produced this commercial to encourage you and I to buy more corn and give them more money. Why would they not do anything in their power to get people to get off their health kick and buy more corn. These people are like your neighborhood pusher. By any means necessary!

I went onto sweetsuprise.com the site the commercial directs you to and pulled out a few contentions the organization makes and took liberty to respond:

• Research confirms that high fructose corn syrup is safe and no different from other common sweeteners like table sugar and honey. All three sweeteners are nutritionally the same. [except the fact the HFCS is super refined! They take corn make it into cornstarch THEN make it into fructose. Its like intravenous drugs..... the cheap kind Whitney will not smoke... impurities and all! What seems better natural raw cane sugar/ honey or this nonsense]
• High fructose corn syrup has the same number of calories as table sugar and is equal in sweetness. It contains no artificial or synthetic ingredients.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted high fructose corn syrup "Generally Recognized as Safe" status for use in food, and reaffirmed that ruling in 1996 after thorough review. [ummmm the FDA once told pregnant women it was ok to smoke. Clearly their word is not bond!]

Not to mention that this commercial says HFCS is ok in moderation. However People must know that HFCS is in everything. Check your bread label next time you think you are making a super natural sandwich. Is in there. Here is the Mayo Clinics word on HFCS:

High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetener and preservative used in many
processed foods. It is made by changing the sugar in cornstarch to fructose —
another form of sugar.

Some nutrition experts blame increased consumption
of high-fructose corn syrup for the growing obesity problem. One theory is that
fructose is more readily converted to fat by your liver than is sucrose,
increasing the levels of fat in your bloodstream.

In addition, animal studies have shown a link between increased consumption
of high-fructose corn syrup and adverse health effects, such as diabetes and
high cholesterol.

These types of foods are often high in calories and low in nutritional value.
This fact alone is reason to be cautious about foods containing high-fructose
corn syrup.

To reduce high-fructose corn syrup in your diet, read food labels. Avoid or
limit foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup. Some other easy tips for
cutting back on high-fructose corn syrup

Anyhow say Toye is not a health advocate. As I sip my McDonalds Sweet Tea, I urge you to contact these fools and express disdain for this commercial at:

Corn Refiners Association
Web: comments@sweetsurprise.com Phone: 202.331.1634Fax: 202.331.2054US Mail: 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 950 Washington, DC 20006-5805