PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
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Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#2It would be easier to make people give up most of their rights and freedoms than it would be to make them stop eating bad food that will make them an expensive burden to the healthcare system. The only solution is to regulate and tax the way cigarettes are. All that Pepsi goes to fund all that diabetes and heart disease. Everyone, including the highly competent managers and researchers at Pepsi, knows it is bad for you. That does not mean no one should work for Philip Morris - it just means there are probably more virtuous ways to spend your time. Ultimately, society will give the people what they want, so we should tax the bad wants.
Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#3[deleted]
Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#4It would be easier to make people give up most of their rights and freedoms than it would be to make them stop eating bad food that will make them an expensive burden to the healthcare system. The only solution is to regulate and tax the way cigarettes are. All that Pepsi goes to fund all that diabetes and heart disease. Everyone, including the highly competent managers and researchers at Pepsi, knows it is bad for y…
> there are probably more virtuous ways to spend your time
You reminded me of this phrase:
"Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?"
(Steve Jobs' pitch to Pepsi exec John Sculley)
Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#5It's a little dishonest of this article not to point out that junk food is engineered- I mean literally engineered, by teams of scientists running controlled experiments- to be as addictive as possible. This isn't a question of those wacky consumers and their revealed preference not matching their stated intentions; human willpower should barely enter the conversation when this topic comes up.
If PepsiCo is genuinely serious about encouraging healthy foods, the only way that's ever going to work is if the Lay's and Doritos are re-designed to be less appealing. Putting them in a fight head-to-head with the healthy foods in their current state is a fight the healthy foods are always going to lose, even if Pepsi's intentions were pure as the driven snow. But they can't (again, irrespective of whether they're good or evil) because that would kill the brands and competitors would simply swoop in and take the market share; so once again we have a coordination problem where regulation is realistically the only solution.
Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#6It's a little dishonest of this article not to point out that junk food is engineered- I mean literally engineered, by teams of scientists running controlled experiments- to be as addictive as possible. This isn't a question of those wacky consumers and their revealed preference not matching their stated intentions; human willpower should barely enter the conversation when this topic comes up. If PepsiCo is genuinely…
Is it possible to engineer healthy and addictive food?
Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#7It's a little dishonest of this article not to point out that junk food is engineered- I mean literally engineered, by teams of scientists running controlled experiments- to be as addictive as possible. This isn't a question of those wacky consumers and their revealed preference not matching their stated intentions; human willpower should barely enter the conversation when this topic comes up. If PepsiCo is genuinely…
Is it possible to engineer healthy and addictive food?
I like to think diet pop can fit into this category... but then there's the backlash of "unnatural chemicals" which sceptics believe must obviously be bad for you.
Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#8It's a little dishonest of this article not to point out that junk food is engineered- I mean literally engineered, by teams of scientists running controlled experiments- to be as addictive as possible. This isn't a question of those wacky consumers and their revealed preference not matching their stated intentions; human willpower should barely enter the conversation when this topic comes up. If PepsiCo is genuinely…
If the market is incapable, it is time for government to step in. We already have innumerable regulations re food safety and content, would it be inconceivable for us to regulate the salt content of potato chips? Or the calorie content of something labeled a "meal deal"?
Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#9It's a little dishonest of this article not to point out that junk food is engineered- I mean literally engineered, by teams of scientists running controlled experiments- to be as addictive as possible. This isn't a question of those wacky consumers and their revealed preference not matching their stated intentions; human willpower should barely enter the conversation when this topic comes up. If PepsiCo is genuinely…
Is it possible to engineer healthy and addictive food?
Most likely not. The unhealthy components are addictive because they were rare in the ancestral environment, and useful, which is also the reason why they're unhealthy in large quantities.
Re: PepsiCo Wants to Sell Healthy Food, Consumers Want Chips
#10It's a little dishonest of this article not to point out that junk food is engineered- I mean literally engineered, by teams of scientists running controlled experiments- to be as addictive as possible. This isn't a question of those wacky consumers and their revealed preference not matching their stated intentions; human willpower should barely enter the conversation when this topic comes up. If PepsiCo is genuinely…
It's coordination problems all the way down. I'd prefer the ability to purchase the products I choose, and suffer the consequences.