Old attitudes from when food was scarce will pervade for a few years to come until populations come to terms with food security. In times past many food items like Guinness and Lucozade were recommended for health benefits. I suspect they were more of a justification for people to spend money on extra food items because if you are on a calorie deficient diet due to a lack of money and feeling fatigued, of course an extra 500 calories of fizzy drink is going to pick you up. In westernised worlds this is no longer the case and we need to make a more informed decision about our diets.
So yes it is sugar, but 'sugar' as in sucrose, which is glucose and fructose.
Malted beverages, sugary cereal, refined-flour cookies, take-away pizzas and of course, the great big marketing machine - the sodas. All of them meet this criteria and I don't consider any of these healthy.
I recently read a science fiction story that described a near-future society in which the space race is restarted following the discovery of an alien drone ship. It describes the situation [1]:
> With rumours abounding that several South American nations are in talks to form their own unified space agency, not to mention the fledgling private endeavours of Virgin, Red Bull, Mitsubishi, Google and BAE Systems, It seems that the second Space Race has begun in earnest.
Red Bull does seem a little out of place in that list, but not much. Why is it that an energy drink company spends SO MUCH on advertising that this isn't all that incongruous?
[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/2lkrph/jenkinsverse_9_...
They're also attached as my sibling comment notes to Felix Baumgartner's space jump. Not to mention such diverse activites as snowboarding, mountain biking, freestyle motocross, ice cross downhill, skiing and BMX events. Cliff diving. Soapbox races. Flugtag. F1. E-sports. Stock Cars. Rallycross. Association football. Sailing. Being at the forefront of these industries is not normal for eg. Horlicks.
They manufacture energy drinks, but they're at home in the above industries. How weird is that?
Idaho Potatoes: https://idahopotato.com
California Walnuts: https://www.walnuts.org
California Almonds: http://www.almonds.com
California Raisins: http://calraisins.org / http://raisins.org
are a few of the domestic ones I've worked with over the years.
EDIT:
Here's a list of all the official California Agricultural Marketing Programs[3]
Speaking of foreign avocados, in addition to Mexico, Chile grows and exports a lot to the US. Of of their interesting arguments is that being in the Southern Hemisphere, their crop is counter-seasonal to our domestic avos. http://avocadosfromchile.org
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_board [2] https://www.ams.usda.gov [3] https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/mkt/mkt/pdf/ProgramContactInformatio...
Australian readers can probably hear that Coles announcer voice in the heads right now.
Does this heuristic only apply if its a standalone advertisement?
That would cut out bananas, mangos, avocados, pistachios, every mainstream meat, eggs, dairy and water (both bottled and tap).
I feel these are as bad or even worse than medical bribes that makes doctor give excess meds (and the companies get fined billions of dollars) given the sheer number of people affected.
'"Horlicks is a brand with a huge heritage," says Steve Davies, its marketing director in the UK. "But the product had quite an ageing profile - the core of our drinkers were over 60 years old - so the market was very slowly declining."' [1] (from 2005)
'Horlicks and Ovaltine tick along, but are generally sold to older people.' [2]
British children are more likely to drink milk at bedtime, perhaps flavoured with chocolate or Nesquik powder.
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2928124/A-wake-up-call-fo...
[2] https://www.conveniencestore.co.uk/advice/products-in-depth/...
When our daughter was born, we spoke to a lactation consultant who explained how infants wean away from breast milk naturally. She explained that it's not cow's milk that has a similar taste to breast milk, but it's bananas.
We also get bombarded with ads "If kids need to get sufficient calcium and Vitamin D, they need to drink cow's milk". I'm not sure how valid this argument this is.
It is also one of the few non-sugary examples of a kids drink so I'm quite keen on it.
I liked it when I was young.
You haven't looked very hard, then. My 2 year old loves milk and requests it so much that we're actively trying to get her to drink less (and more water). All my friends who have kids in the same rough age bracket report that their kids ask for milk, too.
I have been extremely lactose intolerant since childhood, so those forced milk-drinking episodes were traumatic.
These days I get my calcium from dark leafy greens, sardines, and tofu. I get my vitamin D from sunlight and an easily absorbable vitamin supplement.
I think this has more to do with 'common knowledge' of what's healthy.
It's also certainly better to have your kid drinking milk, over sugar waters, like sodas, most fruit juices...
You'll be surprised how deep the rabbit hole goes. Horlicks is heavily marketed and distributed by its owner Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK). What is less well known about GSK is its kickback and corruption network throughout India and Asia. Doctors/nurses/hospital admins would get kickbacks in the form of lunches, dinners, entertainment, trips, conferences, gifts. In China, GSK was fined $500 mil for corrupting doctors. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29274822
Even in the US, where the scale of corruption is arguably lower, GSK was fined USD$ 3 billion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_pharmaceutical...
That seems interesting. I'd be interested to know whether that's true and for which specific countries. How much of it is powerful MNCs utilizing their power to put the right politician/legislator in place, similar to how lobbying works in the US.
I'm also surprised you use the strong words "overlook" and "fact". I wonder if you're perhaps confusing hollywood portrayal of Asia/Africa/developing countries for reality. I see that mistake made often by people who have not spent significant time overseas or have chosen to live purely in an expat bubble.
> You might not be aware that in a country like China it is common for foreign companies to be penalized for "corruption" that is widely known to be standard fare in local industry.
I'm quite familiar with China. What you're saying maybe partially true but just like the USA, it's lobbying, not direct corruption. Calling it "standard fare" "corruption" would be equivalent to calling American business/lobbying industry as the same. In much the same way that you wouldn't call Boeing/McDonald Douglas/steel industry/coal industry lobbying as corruption. If I'm mistaken, could you please give a specific instance with the facts you're referring to.
Still better than one of the nurses who eventually showed up at our house with a bunch of Amway products.
Are they, and is it?
I tried it once and didn't like it, but I've always bucketed it with hot chocolate. I've certainly never had or heard it associated with improving health.
I have reservations about people who think they should survive on it, but if they're going down that road anyway this seems like a safe choice.
Though even as a kid my family pediatrician recommended coffee with milk over Horlicks/Complan, can't thank her enough for that :) .