Why Are High Fructose Corn Syrup Advertisements On Tv?

The Corn Refiners Association, a trade group representing the makers of high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, launched a multimillion-dollar television and print ad campaign to dispel what it called "misinformation" about the sweetener, which is nearly ubiquitous in processed foods. Manufacturers like it because it's cheap and has food-preservative qualities. The ads illustrate moms and others who have heard high-fructose corn syrup is unhealthy but can't articulate why. Advocacy groups say the ads are deceptive and misleading, but the American Medical Association says there's no reason to restrict HFCS over any other type of sweetener. Still, some processed food makers are abandoning HFCS, and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans want you to cut back on all sugars.

Research and Social Media Roots

A growing number of studies link HFCS to the obesity epidemic, insulin resistance and diabetes, and high blood pressure. University of California Davis researchers publishing in the May 2009 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Investigation" found that consuming fructose-containing beverages led to abdominal obesity and elevations in cholesterol and triglycerides. A study reported in the October 2007 "American Journal of Clinical Investigation" links HFCS to high blood pressure and kidney disease. Facebook pages and YouTube content were soon blasting the message that HFCS was practically poison. Some called for a ban on its use in the United States.

The Ad War

The Corn Refiners Association said the public was being duped about the health effects of HFCS. Beginning in 2008, the group contracted with two major public relations and advertising agencies and pumped more than $30 million into an ad campaign called "Sweet Surprise." In one ad, a girlfriend offers her boyfriend a Popsicle, but he hesitates, saying it has HFCS in it. She asks what's wrong with that, and he can't tell her why. She explains that it's made from corn, is similar to sugar and okay in moderation. Each of the ads points viewers to SweetSurprise.com, a consumer-oriented website, also created by the association. The association says it hopes the campaign reduces the confusion over HFCS, helps people understand that your body doesn't treat HFCS any differently than other sugar --- a claim challenged by research. The group also claimed HFCS was natural -- a statement it later took out of the ads.

The Response

Advocacy groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest call the campaign "slick" and "deceptive," saying HFCS is not natural. Although it starts from cornstarch, manufacturers take it through a number of chemical processes to make HFCS. The organization says the ads are making people believe the harmful effects of HFCS are an urban myth. It may not be fooling too many people, however. YouTube is full of comic spoofs on the ad, in which mothers, using similar lines to the HFCS commercials, say that lead in toys, Ku Klux Klan rallies and female genital mutilation are "fine in moderation." In addition, some packaged food companies are reverting back to old-fashioned sugar. Starbucks, some Kraft products and Hunt's ketchup, to name a few, have dumped HFCS and are cashing in on the marketing opportunity to put "No High-Fructose Corn Syrup" on their labels.

Name Change

To cement its image makeover, in September 2010, the Corn Refiners Association asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow a name change from HFCS to "corn sugar." According to "The New York Times," approval was granted, but the Sugar Association, a "competitor" of sorts, objected, so the FDA is taking more time to deliberate on the matter. As of February 2011, no decision had been made, nor was it clear which way the decision would go.