"THE ORGANIC FOODS MYTH A few decades ago, a woman tried t… - Suzy Kassem

"THE ORGANIC FOODS MYTH

A few decades ago, a woman tried to sue a butter company that had printed the word 'LITE' on its product's packaging. She claimed to have gained so much weight from eating the butter, even though it was labeled as being 'LITE'. In court, the lawyer representing the butter company simply held up the container of butter and said to the judge, "My client did not lie. The container is indeed 'light in weight'. The woman lost the case.

In a marketing class in college, we were assigned this case study to show us that 'puffery' is legal. This means that you can deceptively use words with double meanings to sell a product, even though they could mislead customers into thinking your words mean something different. I am using this example to touch upon the myth of organic foods. If I was a lawyer representing a company that had labeled its oranges as being organic, and a man was suing my client because he found out that the oranges were being sprayed with toxins, my defense opening statement would be very simple: "If it's not plastic or metallic, it's organic."

Most products labeled as being organic are not really organic. This is the truth. You pay premium prices for products you think are grown without chemicals, but most products are. If an apple is labeled as being organic, it could mean two things. Either the apple tree itself is free from chemicals, or just the soil. One or the other, but rarely both. The truth is, the word 'organic' can mean many things, and taking a farmer to court would be difficult if you found out his fruits were indeed sprayed with pesticides. After all, all organisms on earth are scientifically labeled as being organic, unless they are made of plastic or metal. The word 'organic' comes from the word 'organism', meaning something that is, or once was, living and breathing air, water and sunlight.

So, the next time you stroll through your local supermarket and see brown pears that are labeled as being organic, know that

Suzy Kassem

Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem · May 15, 2011 Verified in 1 source Sign up to see the complete provenance

water fruits butter companies lifestyle consumer supermarket heaven advertising organic chemicals marketing deceptive law business lawyers soil sea advertising-puffery butter-story ads buying case-study comapny company deceptive-advertising examples-of-puffery-advertising farmer food-market foods fruits-and-vegetables health-foods healthy-diet marketing-puffery marketing-puffery-definition marketing-puffery-examples organisms puffery puffery-advertising-examples puffery-case puffery-examples puffery-in-marketing-messages puffery-legal-definition legal organism trees fat apples fraud healthy pesticides

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The Buddha Maya Angelou Bob Marley Swami Vivekananda Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Additional quotes by Suzy Kassem

Endangering human life for profit should be a universal crime.

"God created every man to be free. The ability to choose whether to live free or enslaved, right or wrong, happy or in fear is something called freewill. Every man was born with freewill. Some people use it, and some people use any excuse not to. Nobody can turn you into a slave unless you allow them. Nobody can make you afraid of anything, unless you allow them. Nobody can tell you to do something wrong, unless you allow them. God never created you to be a slave, man did. God never created division or set up any borders between brothers, man did. God never told you hurt or kill another, man did. And in the end, when God asks you: "Who told you to kill one of my children?"

And you tell him, "My leader."

He will then ask you, "And are THEY your GOD?

THE CONSCIOUS HUMAN

You are not just white,
but a rainbow of colors.
You are not just black,
but golden.
You are not just a nationality,
but a citizen of the world.
You are not just for the right or left,
but for what is right over the wrong.
You are not just rich or poor,
but always wealthy in the mind and heart.
You are not perfect, but flawed.
You are flawed, but you are just.
You may just be conscious human,
but you are also a magnificent
reflection of God.

Suzy Kassem

“The Conscious Human” Poetry by Suzy Kassem

"THE ORGANIC FOODS MYTH A few decades ago, a woman tried to sue a butter company that had printed the word 'LITE' on its product's packaging. She cl… - Suzy Kassem

Additional quotes by Suzy Kassem