Once in my Lifetime
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 7:34AM It’s not an easy thing to even mention, it’s churlish and spoil sporty but I can’t help feeling a little uneasy as the big event approaches, that now every time I see anything about the Olympic Games in London 2012, two familiar logos are always apparent.
I’m not going to mention the names of these two corporations as there is no need and they are highly litigious, even on a humble, little-read blog such as this, their hawk eyed lawyers will be checking every word.
Nothing can be said against them, they have beyond question won the battle. They are mighty, unassailable, beyond reproach. They can twist and manipulate laws and the news and any information which criticizes what they do is immediately expunged from the human timeline.
They are the proud sponsors of an event which glorifies human physical fitness and strenuous achievement. The only awkward part of that glorious goal is that a very vital part of the struggle for all the athletes involved is diet.
Athletes are really careful about what they eat. Just possibly corn syrup and saturated fats are fairly low of their diet sheets. I’ll go further, I’ll get really radical, they are not on their diet sheets at all, they would avoid such products at all costs.
But we accept that the two biggest sponsors of the Olympic movement, a fast food corporation and a ‘soft drink’ corporation have managed to buy their way into the picture. Not just for these games, the soft drink corporation has been involved since the 1920’s.
However the corn syrup aspect in relation to their refreshing product needs to be highlighted. Back in the 1920’s they didn’t use it, it wasn’t invented, they used sugar. A lot of sugar I’ll grant you, the equivalent to putting 8 spoons of sugar in a cup of tea, but it was just sugar and less harmful than corn syrup.
Since the 1970’s they have used corn syrup, why? Because it’s cheaper.
Does corn syrup help to make people fat? Yes.
Were there any cases of childhood obesity in Japan before the first fast food restaurant opened in Tokyo in the early 1980’s? No, not one, ever in their history.
Are there cases now? Yes, a horrendous level just like here and in the USA.
Is corn syrup used in all soft drinks and processed food. Yes.
Should we consume these products? No.
Why do we consume these products? Because they are ubiquitous, heavily promoted, highly profitable, tasty, easy, cheap.
Is any of this worth worrying about, should we be concerned that these two multi national giants are getting even more positive publicity and exposure because of their involvement?
I don’t know, it’s probably okay to feel slightly uncomfortable, as long as you keep it to yourself.
Reader Comments (10)
I think you'll find that the very quick Mr Bolt took the 100m title in Bejing fueled by Chicken Nuggets. Everything in moderation.
Mr Llewellyn , you just became my new hero. I've been listening to Ane Brun's new album "It Starts With One" and really contemplating that concept lately. You just embodied it. Thank you. People who read and might poopoo this article, watch 'King Corn' (http://www.kingcorn.net/the-film/trailer/) if you haven't already. Very eye opening and not in a dry manner, either. Cheers.
do soft drinks in england really contain corn syrup? i'm an american ex-pat currently residing on the continent and every soft drink i've seen here contains sugar. i thought it was an american thing to put corn syrup in everything. not that drinking huge amounts of sugary soft drinks would be any better, i was just curious.
Didn't we hear a tale in the pub that suggested The Bolt, had eaten said McChickNugg things just before he won a gold at the something games, when he was 16. Like the tennis men, and women doing wipes, with towels.... twice here, once there. .We used to call it something else, but now is it $OCD ?
Rob C, no UK soft drinks do not contain Corn Syrup, even the famous one in a red can is made with cane sugar in the UK. High fructose corn syrup is used very little in the UK in general due to quotas imposed by the Common Agricultural Policy.
Rob C and Toby, my understanding is that we don't name the ingredient High Fructose Corn Syrup in the UK, but Glucose-Fructose Syrup. It is therefore possible that the patriotic pride I felt on returning to the UK after two years in the US - that our bread, drinks, etc don't contain the magic ingredient - is largely unfounded.
Problem is, the UK media often talk about HFCS and so we look out for that specific label. When we don't find it, instead seeing plain old Glucose or Fructose, we feel vindicated and scoff away. But we're eating pretty much the same thing.
I've been limiting the amount of soft drinks for a long time; obesity not being a problem in our family (we tend to the opposite extreme) it has largely been for other reasons, like tooth damage. Fortunately, none of us actually like fast-food either.
I found that my children and grandchildren actually like real fruit juice, diluted with water and, on special occasions, with soda water. Much better for everyone and a wide choice of flavours.
Burgers can be made using real, home-made, bread rolls; fresh mince and onions; and fresh salad. In that case they are actually quite healthy.
I'm lucky (but poor) it's actually made me scrutinise more closely all the "fillers" that go into a lot of branded product, be it basic, branded or premium...superdoopah expensive schmutter.
As a result my daughter is pickier as to what she stuffs down her craw ( mouth), it's also made her veer away from fizzy drinks, which she won't knowingly touch ..(she knows they're loaded with sugars, bone strippers, & possibly dehydrate you not re-hydrate you, so she opts for water or a few brands of squash when feeling the need for a good glug from her sigg bottle.
She also understands (at 8) that plastic bottles are creating more rubbish piles, rarely recycled & you ingest crap that may affect your health in later life, another reason to use her sigg bottle, they last, they are taste neutral & the neoprene cover keeps her drinks cool for longer ..(no I don't work for them)
Easier to give up all that sugary shi-ite (as in militia) if you carry a decent taste friendly water bottle around, before long you don't miss the sugary crack that Robert is talking covertly about.
Whilst not pious & certainly not having Cromwells tendency to ban Christmas (or in this case Mcdonalds) for the masses that eat (badly there) ..of which i've been guilty of too, ..the places are sugar palaces, it's a cheap filler commodity & sweetness appeals to kids, ..so dear parents we are part of the problem.
Try getting your kid to enjoy seasonal fruit more, it's uk strawbs season after all , ..make up some vanilla sugar & use a smattering of that as a flavour enhancer on breakfast "stuff" instead of say a mass of nutella, (nutella is around 55% sugar) ..eek, my kid would prefer a few microwaved (to re-heat) scotch pancakes with vanilla sugar (home-made) or french toast with a 2 teaspoon sprinkling to a "m(mc)uck-shake" , or their offerings of powdered ice cream in a swirling machine that pukes it out (Corn syrup type topping mandatory).
If you widen your taste palate then there's lots better out there & suddenly those fast food takeaways & fizzy drinks become rightfully repugnant & avoided by all including your kid!
Kids have tastebuds too, let themn challenge their & OUR perception of what they can handle & you'll be surprised, cheese counters are a good place, any deli counter offering samples, talk & explain what's why's & wherefores of food you come across, your enthusiasm & the opportunity to try is what will open their minds & mouths.
I've never heard my kid plead to go to a Mucky-D's yet, not just due to my own dislike, but because she knows that for her body it's mainly full of Mc-shite.
She blinked in disbelief when I sowed hers a tv programme of an obrese kid who eats "that brand" every day (if you believe what the camera shows you) ..who ordered his meals by number, ..but he couldn't tell you what was actually in the order...surely that speaks mounds about how bland & cruddy this stuff is!? ...food should be relished, savoured, anticipated & marvelled at, not thrown at you in almost pre-chewed, bland enough for everybody form.
The fact that these global corporations are everywhere, in & on everything for the Olypmics is saddening, it should be about sport not global bill-sticking. (Olympic torch "goodie bus support vehicles" anyone)
Yup the Olympics is one big money enterprise! precisely why they are there, nothing to do with altruistic tendencies.
Teach your kid to make food properly, ..or even better, teach yourself then teach your kid to be a bit more gourmet & less grabbit-onthe-hoof, after all they base their decisions greatly on what mum & dad impart don't they?
I'll eat 2x as much porridge with 1/2 as much sprinkled sugar if it's got taste rather than just sweetness (for instance), speaks mounds about what we are doing wrong, especially when it comes to fast food with shed-loads of filler such as sugar syrup content
Make some Vanilla sugar (easy) & try it to see what I mean.
................Nesquik is a good example of what Robert is referring to, when in the states we purchased some, (mainly comes in convenient syrup form, I took it back as it was full of nasties, the UK version is different again, & when abroad in Europe recently so was the Spanish variant, all loaded with sugar, some less harmful than others, & set up for different markets ..needless to say the Syrup version was by far the worst (ingredient wise).
We'll always have "go-to" favourites but teach em to counter each bad thing with something good & the jobs more likely a good-un.
Perhaps then our kids can outlive the parents again, My wifes back is knackered (Nurse) from lifting fat people (with a variety of medical disorders admittedly) .however should she put her back out again, (affecting her health & ability to work) helping the morbidly obese person who is going in for heart surgery that day when they are still eating jumbo bags of sat fat snacks & guzzling sugary cola, oh yes & ordering in fast food take-away in their room! ..(saints preserve us).
Olympic values?, they read the marketing speil & ran off to hide in shame!
the olympics is "do it our way or we'll stamp on you, even to the extent that sports don't necessarily have the right to advise & govern their own way's wants & needs ..eg Ski-ing is in charge of Snowboarding, 10 years of pleading & trying to work with the Olympic bandwagon & they still think they know better (control) ..stop kidding ourselves that they give a shi-ite about the sport they promote, then look at the trickle-down to things such as values & sponsorship.
Go look at the 2012 "teaching" website, it's all about sponsorship bungs & branding placement there too!
What an effing laugh!
You made me curious, so I looked for examples of the offending logo, which I agree would make me queasy too.
All the logos I saw online for "2012 Olympics London" don't seem contaminate with corporate logos.
Back in the 1930's the United States Congress started offering farm subsidies to help farmers during the depression. Corn got cheap and plentiful and in the 70's Congress acted again by introducing tariffs on imported sugar to keep the price up. So we had all this cheap corn to make high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which has zero nutritional value, lots of empty calories and adverse metabolic effects but really cheap compared to sugar. HFCS is now in many processed foods, soft drinks, yogurt and even some honey sold in the US. Corn, because of its low price, is also used as a feed stock for cattle which has increased the fat content of beef. And we wonder why 1/3 of the US is obese.
According to The National Business Review, eleven top corporate sponsors, including Coke and McDonalds have paid the IOC just under one billion USD for marketing rights to the Vancouver and London Olympics.