Contains 0% REAL FRUIT!!

Scatterbrained · May 30, 2014

So a good while back I came across some off brand fruit flavored gummy candies in a check out isle. What caught my eye were the words "REAL FRUIT", until I looked closer and saw that it said "Contains 0%" in small print just above it. :lol:

While I found it humorous at the time, I didn't think too much of it. Later on however I noticed that a particular candy bar my wife likes contains "artificial caramel flavoring", despite it being a caramel candy bar. The whole point of this candy bar is that it has caramel as a chief ingredient, yet there is no actual caramel in the candy bar.

To really up the "huh?" factor, the same parent company of the candy bar also makes the shower soap we use, which contains real caramel. So the soap, which isn't edible, has real caramel, yet the caramel candy has corn syrup with "artificial caramel flavoring".:er: You just can't make this stuff up. :lol:

Meanwhile I decide to use that theme for a set of photos. I did the first one a while back, and only decided to do the follow up shot last night.

What They Want You to Think by tltichy, on Flickr

Contains 0% REAL FRUIT!! by tltichy, on Flickr

Derrel · May 30, 2014

Quite an indictment of the America "food" supply. Both of those are good photos. I LIKE the strawberries/red candy one, but somehow, it doesn't seem to have enough added sugar or corn sweetener and fake color to satisfy my cravings...

paigew · May 30, 2014

These are really great! I love the thought/process behind them. You should do a whole series of these!

cynicaster · May 30, 2014

Love the strawberry one--both the concept and the contrasting colors. The other one is cool too, but honestly, kind of anticlimactic after the first one.

Scatterbrained · May 30, 2014

Derrel said:
............ it doesn't seem to have enough added sugar or corn sweetener and fake color to satisfy my cravings...

:lmao:

Spoken like a true American. :lol:

tirediron · May 30, 2014

I wish I could think of shots like this! :irked:

JustJazzie · May 30, 2014

Love the first one! Thanks for sharing!

sm4him · May 30, 2014

Excellent! I love that first shot for the color scheme and the idea, but it does take both photos to really pull off the whole concept. Nicely envisioned and nicely done!

This is also exactly why I've always refused to eat today's version of "margarine." Vegetable oil spread? Gross, no thanks! The stuff is actually *imitation* margarine, a even-further chemicalized process than the ORIGINAL margarine was. And since margarine is, in itself, imitation butter, that makes the veggie oil spread Imitation Imitation Butter.
Just give me the freakin' butter and let me have my heart attack in peace, thank you very much. :lol:

The other one I saw a few years back was a container of Half n' Half that my sister-in-law had purchased. It had one of the big "starburst" emblems on the container, to draw attention to it, and inside the starburst it said, "No Fat!"…
Wait.
What???
NO-FAT Half and Half????
Isn't that just… Half?
:lmao:

hamlet · May 30, 2014

I love your product shoots, i don't know how the heck you do this stuff, it is really, really great work my man.

And on the topic of why we live in a world where this is the norm: this is pure democracy baby, people voting with their wallets what they want or don't want to keep in business either intentionally or unintentionally. This is as free of a choice as we get to make in this world.

Also i would like to say that i love that i live in the 21 century where most foods are indeed fake but i get to live past the age of 30. I'm with derrel on this one, so keep those artificial sweeteners coming! :hail:

JacaRanda · May 30, 2014

Very nice. I'm trying to picture a subliminal of the devil in the 2nd one. The scoops are eyes, the red syrup/dot in the middle of the forehead dripping blood. Mouth spewing red vines, blood vial on the table. Stretch?

Scatterbrained · May 30, 2014

paigew said:
These are really great! I love the thought/process behind them. You should do a whole series of these!

Thanks!

I don't know about a whole series, but I do have an idea or two rattling around that I'm trying to figure out how to do. Besides, shooting processed foods means having to buy them, then throwing out whatever I don't shoot. Kinda wasteful. :er:

cynicaster said:
Love the strawberry one--both the concept and the contrasting colors. The other one is cool too, but honestly, kind of anticlimactic after the first one.

Thank you. The second one is intentionally cold and sterile. I wanted to try and impart an industrial feel to the image, where the first image is vibrant and "happy" the second is cold, stiff and lifeless. Sorta.

tirediron said:
I wish I could think of shots like this!

Thanks!

I wish I could get out more!

JustJazzie said:
Love the first one! Thanks for sharing!

Thank You! :mrgreen:

sm4him said:
Excellent! I love that first shot for the color scheme and the idea, but it does take both photos to really pull off the whole concept. Nicely envisioned and nicely done!

This is also exactly why I've always refused to eat today's version of "margarine." Vegetable oil spread? Gross, no thanks! The stuff is actually *imitation* margarine, a even-further chemicalized process than the ORIGINAL margarine was. And since margarine is, in itself, imitation butter, that makes the veggie oil spread Imitation Imitation Butter.
Just give me the freakin' butter and let me have my heart attack in peace, thank you very much.

The other one I saw a few years back was a container of Half n' Half that my sister-in-law had purchased. It had one of the big "starburst" emblems on the container, to draw attention to it, and inside the starburst it said, "No Fat!"
Wait.
What???
NO-FAT Half and Half????
Isn't that just Half?
:lmao:

Thanks!

Yeah, half of what? :lol:

I remember back when our oldest daughter was old enough that we had to consider getting juice boxes for her; I was pretty surprised at how many juices out there weren't what they said they were. Several were just water, a bit of apple juice, sugar, and some artificial flavoring. Nothing like picking up a box of grape juice and seeing that it doesn't actually have any grape juice in it.

hamlet said:
I love your product shoots, i don't know how the heck you do this stuff, it is really, really great work my man.

And on the topic of why we live in a world where this is the norm: this is pure democracy baby, people voting with their wallets what they want or don't want to keep in business either intentionally or unintentionally. This is as free of a choice as we get to make in this world.

Also i would like to say that i love that i live in the 21 century where most foods are indeed fake but i get to live past the age of 30. I'm with derrel on this one, so keep those artificial sweeteners coming! :hail:

Thanks! :mrgreen:
I wouldn't blame it on "democracy". It's more a side effect of our political system. We don't live in a true capitalist society; at best you could call it a "crony capitalism", which is to say our government is pretty much beholden to the interests of the companies that pay them. Just look at corn. It's cheaper to convert corn into corn syrup than it is to use sugar. Not because the process itself would be cheaper ceteris peribus, but because tariffs on sugar, combined with subsidies for corn make it so. While that is a small, simple example of the problems we face, it's an example that shows how easy it is to shift the industry in a way that your average consumer wouldn't even notice.

JacaRanda said:
Very nice. I'm trying to picture a subliminal of the devil in the 2nd one. The scoops are eyes, the red syrup/dot in the middle of the forehead dripping blood. Mouth spewing red vines, blood vial on the table. Stretch?

Man, you really don't like red licorice do you?

:lmao: