Thursday, April 14, 2011
Does Organic Food Need a Marketing Campaign?
Author: Rachel Cernansky Publication Date: April 5, 2011 Link: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/04/does-organic-food-need-marketing-campaign.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+28%Treehugger%29 Summary: In this article, the author talks about a issue that could go either way and could be debated about for hours on end. So called natural products, which actually have synthetic fertilizer and chemicals added, are harming the sales of organic products. Most Americans assume that when they see natural on a label, the food is automatically organic and they purchase it, when it is really not. Many people do not understand organic farming and what it is and the organic farming industry needs to either label or educated their customers or else their sales will continue to plummet. All in all, the organic farming industry needs to act quickly to prevent falling to "natural" products. Opinion/Reflection: I think that all of this GMO and organic stuff is very interesting. Here is another article talking about education. Yes, the organic industry needs to get out and educate the customers about what they are eating and what the difference is between natural and organic foods and get the assumption out of their heads. In order for the organic industry to succeed, not only do the people need to be educated, but marketed too as well. There should be more labelling of organic foods in grocery stores and convience stors. The way that this connects to my life, is that sometimes I feel that my own family has the assumption that because something says it is natural it is organic. I will admit that whenever I see a can of corn that says naturally grown I automatically think of a corn stalk and corn on the colb being naturally grown. In the end, I though this was a very interesting article to read and share and I hope that we can correct people's way of thinking, including myself. Questions: 1. Why are people not educated about what organic means? 2. Why don't organic farmers and sellers label their products saying what organic means and not what people assume it to be? 3. Why do people think that when they see natural on a label of food they think it is automatically organic when most of the time it is really a GMO? 4. How can we fix this problem to help the organic industry? Graphic: http://pursuehealthyyou.blogspot.com/2011/01/organic-foods-are-they-worth-it.html
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Opinion: I think that natural probucts should be defined on the label so people know the difference between organic products and natural products. Until I read this article I did not know there was a difference between natural and organic products. I think that if they did label the definition of natural on products then the organic industry would increase because the people who are more precise about only eating organic foods will then choose the food that says organic not natural. Theres a food store called Trader Joes that is right down the street from me, this makes me wonder if this store sells natural products or organic. I thought it was a store that sold all organic foods, but when I googled it, it came up with both natural and organic. So does this mean that it has both? Or have people mixed up the two words because they don't realize the difference between the two? I would really like to know if their foods are all organic or if they do have some natural products that has had fertilizer added to the soil.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Questions:
1) I guess that going through school the education department never throught it was to important to teach students the difference between the two.
2)It might cost to much money to pay for the extra writing to be put on the label of every organic product.
3)Because when people see the word natural they think that nothing was done to it because it is related to the nature and nature grows on it own.
4)Either label the definition of natural, or put on the label some where that non-organic fertilizer was added to the soil.
Opinion: I think this is bad. While I’m not saying this is a form of false labeling, to me it is. Labels on food should be accurate or inexistent, never misleading. I think every body should never think their eating something, but it turns out to be something completely different. I usually don’t particularly look for food that is natural or organic. Therefore, I wouldn’t know how it feels to not know if the food I was eating was organic, natural ect. I hope companies can correct their food labels.
ReplyDeleteExtension: http://www.quranclub.net/2010/04/all-natural-food-is-not-organic.html
This webpage talks about how “natural food” doesn’t mean anything and the term “organic” is better.
Answers:
2) Because it would be a pain to explain the meaning of it. People should not assume things like that.
3) Because they don’t know the real definition of “organic”
4) Make it clear that organic food is not necessarily healthier, just has no chemicals.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a very interesting article and topic. In the summer I LOVE eating corn on the cob, and I like to think that I know where it comes from, but I guess that I do not. I agree that organic farmers should educate people about what is really organic or not. Although it would be good to help the organic industry, I think that it is fine for non organic farmers to say that they have natural crops. I think that the use of GMOs is good because it helps crops grow better, and it boosts our economy. I think that it would be helpful if crops using GMOs made it clear that they were not really "natural," but I do not have a problem with it.
Answers to Questions:
1) People are not educated about what organic really means because they are lazy, and don't really care where their food comes from. I know what it means, but I don't really care if the organic industry does not prevail.
3) People think that natural means organic because natural is associated with from nature, or from the earth. This causes people to think that it is solely the earth that these crops are coming from.
4) We could fix this problem to help the organic industry by properly labeling products saying that they are organic and GMO free.
Extension:http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/organic-food/NU00255
This article is about organic foods and if they're really better than non-organic foods.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Interesting. I think people should be informed about when foods are really "organic" or not, like Ben said. However, I do see the reason they don't, though. If people think they are doing the right thing by buying what they think is organic, then the company will make more money. If someone eats something that appears to be organic, but is slightly genetically modified, their health most likely won't be at risk. If I were a company making organic foods, I would probably be doing the same thing. Connection: I once saw a can of peas at the store that said "Mushy Processed Peas". This company clearly has no problem with telling its consumers what is in their food.
Answers to Questions:
1. Probably because it's mostly the adults. And when they were kids and in school, they didn't have the technology they have today to learn about organic and farming.
2. Like I said before: people think they're buying good things, so the company will make more money.
Graphic:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.nitrosell.com/product_images/6/1253/C%2526B%2520Mushy%2520Peas%2520300.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.curiosityshoptea.com/store/product/15205/C-%2526-B-Mushy-Peas/&usg=__b6pdTAAPy_rg_nZHxVU-4PfuU2w=&h=300&w=300&sz=19&hl=en&start=0&sig2=wQHogKzwzW8hzj2uqEC2Wg&zoom=1&tbnid=NQF4pLulQCO3IM:&tbnh=169&tbnw=169&ei=BI2rTbG7AsTI0QGYppH5CA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmushy%2Bprocessed%2Bpeas%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1045%26bih%3D484%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=297&vpy=168&dur=2037&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=102&ty=159&oei=BI2rTbG7AsTI0QGYppH5CA&page=1&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0
This is the can of peas I saw.