September has arrived. And with him the return to the routine. In a few weeks the little ones will go back to school after a whole summer of vacation. And we have the promotion of “back to school” wherever we go. And the food industry was not going to be less. Today I want to do an analysis on how the food industry is used (once again) to promote and sell all kinds of superfluous products. 

The crude reality

For a few weeks we can find images like this in supermarkets:

What do we find here? The promotion of ultra-sugary and ultra-fat cookies and chocolates (the one with the least 20 grams of sugar / 100 grams of product). And worst of all is that their target is not you, it is your child who will obviously see them and ask you to buy them.

Although there are children who do not consume these products (less than they should unfortunately), the simple fact of having such a huge range of products and the fact of stumbling upon them will help your child to be interested in them. I want to emphasize that these types of promotions are strategically placed so that you literally stumble upon them. So at least, you will have a discussion with your child (thanks to the food industry).

Once again we see how the fault of overweight and obesity is not only ours, but that one of the most influential factors is the obesogenic environment. You can read more about it in my post our obesogenic environment.

But as if this were not enough, they also promote the drinks , which apparently, according to the poster of this supermarket, are healthy drinks:

As you can see, they promote drinks like trina (ah, sorry, it doesn’t have gas and that makes it healthy, ahem), packaged juices and sunny delight. Because they are ideal for your child’s lunch… (note the irony). Wherever the water is, let everything else be removed.

And if we thought we had seen it all …

Alcoholic drinks with the claim “back to school” in addition to a more than cheap beer with or in alcohol for only € 0.29. In case we did not have enough with the damages of sugar and fat, to add those of alcohol.

It is shameful, how we can allow this promotion of habits when the consequences of its consumption are killing many people. It’s about the health of the children, that of your children.

My proposal

• I propose to all supermarkets that instead of promoting these products, they show the reality of what they sell, in order to raise awareness, get them to think twice before buying and avoid their sale, with images like these:

You can see more examples at www.sinazucar.org

• I propose the promotion of healthy and alternative lunches like those of my colleague Aitor Sánchez, author of My Limp Diet, both in schools and primary care centers and other institutions:

• I propose the introduction of a new subject for “back to school”, food education . I think a subject or at least a module on healthy eating should be included, so that things start to change. I think that since the environment does not help us, unless the children know what diet they should follow and especially the damages of a bad diet (along with bad habits).

I trust that one day things will change…. (poor deluded).