How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More • Hacker News Board

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#121

Post by geodel » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:12 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #107

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't remotely the same thing dude. Medicine is better when it gets made at a factory instead of in someone's back yard. Fruits and vegetables are better when they are made locally (which can be someone's back yard), rather than being shipped halfway across the country/world.

Some medicines aren’t available at the pharmacy and the locally produced varieties fill a market gap. Ethical hits for the modern druggie.

Agree. Seems being vocal for local hit the raw nerve.

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#122

Post by barbazoo » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:14 PM UTC

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #108

barbazoo wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have no idea why the hell people are being so hard on you. I think it's this and the gatekeeping in general. > Store bought blueberries are garbage. They're obviously not garbage and some people don't have access to fresh Blueberries.

I can't really fault OP for that. I would absolutely say that store bought tomatoes are garbage, even though I buy and eat them. The quality is so much better with fresh tomatoes that I think it's fair to say that the store bought ones are garbage. I understood OP as meaning the same thing with respect to blueberries.

I'm not saying they taste good. I just have a different definition of garbage then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#123

Post by InitialLastName » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:16 PM UTC

MPSimmons wrote: post #37

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much did Big Blueberry pay you?

Wait, do you have big blueberries? Are they for sale?

Don't do it: big blueberries are worse than little blueberries.

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#124

Post by ethbr1 » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:34 PM UTC

galdosdi wrote: post #21

ethbr1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as they don't shill bananas mixed with blueberries. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/FO/D3FO0... Apparently the polyphenol oxidase in bananas doesn't play well with other nutrients.

That study does not match your tone, it implies that eating them together makes them very slightly less good and healthy across just one particular nutrient than they otherwise would have been separately, not that putting them together makes two healthy things combine into one unhealthy thing. That said, I'm a fan of processing as little as possible, and I imagine a fruit salad of those two things would still suffer…

An 84% drop in specific nutrient uptake seems non-trivial, and the proposed method of action seems simple (enzymes catalyze).

If you care about it, it's worth mentioning.

Especially since the proposed fix is simple: eat high PPO foods (which themselves may be beneficial) at different times than foods heavy in nutrients they impact.

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#125

Post by gretch » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:35 PM UTC

dboreham wrote: post #43

That said, blueberries and butter are great. Remember: pretty much everything you see is in service of someone's business model.

People always conceptualize business deals as win-lose: one side got the better of the other and someone was ripped off.

In reality, good business is all about win-win or win-win-win.

The blueberry producer won. The person who did the ad won. And the consumer won, because blueberries are healthier for you than like 90% of other food choices.

There's no practical difference between being 'manipulated' and showing you a reasonable argument for adopting a healthier diet.

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#126

Post by Spastche » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:46 PM UTC

gpspake wrote: post #116

I read "Trust me I'm lying" and it reaffirmed a lot of my theories about how modern marketing works. (This isn't a sly paid plug for the book. Trust me ;) Now I assume everything is marketing by default. A couple that come to mind: the ugly sonic design when the movie came out. You get a whole wave of promotion from the outrage, then another when the design is fixed. An innocuous "my girlfriend's shirt matched her co…

you reminded me of this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_clown_sightings

then suddenly, what comes out the next year? A long awaited remake of It

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(2017_film)

well, that's awfully curious.

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#127

Post by autoexec » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:48 PM UTC

whiterknight wrote: post #40

whatamidoingyo wrote: post #23

Wait, are blueberries "shilled"? I had no idea, but I indeed "shill" them myself. Eating blueberries early in the morning has improved my digestion. They also make me feel really good throughout the day. So much so, I've made numerous attempts at growing blueberry bushes myself (unfortunately I don't have a green thumb). Likewise with coconut water, a habit I developed in Thailand. If they're shilled, so be it. It wo…

Every purchase you have ever made is likely influenced by marketing. As you’re pointing out, it’s not always evil to be told about something you like.

> As you’re pointing out, it’s not always evil to be told about something you like.

It's one thing to be "told about something you like" and another to be manipulated even if sometimes it ultimately leads to a good outcome. If I trick you into buying something you wouldn't have bought otherwise it doesn't really matter much if it turns out later that you actually like the thing you overpaid for, I'd still be a dick.

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#128

Post by CrazyStat » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:52 PM UTC

SilasX wrote: post #45

CrazyStat wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don’t remember that. Perhaps you’re referring to this case [1], which Oprah won? [1] https://www.britannica.com/story/a-brief-history-of-food-lib...

Slow down: are you seriously trivializing the fact that the food industry was able to very expensively sue someone over criticizing their product ... when she turned out to be correct ... just because she eventually won?

No, I'm just trying to keep the facts straight.

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#129

Post by savanaly » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:54 PM UTC

meowkit wrote: post #60

Throwing my hat into the noise… Just try things people. Blueberries are awesome. I know a lot of yall sit at a desk and work on a computer. I personally find blueberries to be an amazing snack and fuel for that kind of work. Driscoll Berries - thumbs down Twin Rivers - thumbs up Farmers market - thumbs up

I just don't get the appeal of blueberries. I have tried them several times and find them both lacking in flavor and mealy in texture. I don't think I've only tried bad ones-- when I do buy them they're from the same grocery stores that are stocked with fruit I do like!

Re: How the Food Industry Pays Influencers to Shill Blueberries, Butter, and More

#130

Post by decafninja » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:54 PM UTC

mrWiz wrote: post #96

MPSimmons wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, do you have big blueberries? Are they for sale?

Big blueberries tend to taste worse than regular ones. I think there's a standard amount of blueberry flavor per volume so smaller ones have a more concentrated/better flavor.

Really? I've found the big ones are often sweeter.