Sugar Ad

So, I was re-reading one of my favorite "Look" magazine issues, the April 6, 1971 issue featuring a sneak preview of Walt Disney World and I came across this ad saying how great sugar is and it's good to eat to give you energy and curb your appetite. I'm sure I've read it before, but didn't pay much attention to it, until now.

What's amazing to me is that in my lifetime (44 years), how many things that were considered good for you are now considered bad for you. If an ad like this appeared today, everyone would clamp down on it and scream about obesity and diabetes.

Today, everyone is so anti-sugar. Cereals I used to eat were "Super Sugar Crisp", "Sugar Smacks", "Sugar Frosted Flakes", "Sugar Pops", etc. Now, I eat "Super Golden Crisp", "Smacks", "Frosted Flakes" and "Pops", plus "Honey Nut Cheerios"...no mention of sugar anywhere. It's now a bad word. But, artificial sweeteners aren't much better, as my own newspaper, the "Daily Post" just reported on a link to them and strokes.

Another thing, the ad says, "Enjoy an ice cream cone shortly before lunch." Nowadays, with some diet plans, the ad would probably say, "Enjoy an ice cream cone AS lunch."

We are so whacked out about what's healthy or unhealthy to eat. Comedian Lewis Black does a bit where he shouts about that in his lifetime eggs being good for you, then bad for you, then just the whites, etc.

In Woody Allen's "Sleeper" (1973), Allen is resuscitated in the year 2073 and offered a cigarette by the doctor shortly after revival. Allen's refuses it and the doctor says, "Why? It's the healthiest thing for your body." (One of the best lines of the movie.) Frank Zappa would agree. To him, cigarettes were considered food.

There are people who argue that being a vegetarian is the best way to be and then we've had contaminated produce that have made people sick or even killed people. Others say that eating meat is great because of the protein and you can't get that type from tofu or nuts, so who knows?

We never know. And what we do know will probably change in the next 10 years or so. As a result, I tend to eat everything, but I don't smoke, although I used to smoke pot. For me, I don't smoke, not because of health issues, but because of the cost and the smell, although I did smoke tobacco hookah in the past year. That was fun.

Overall, I think the key to life is MODERATION, and what's good for me may not be good for you, and vice-verse, since we're all different, with different body types, ethnicities, backgrounds, etc. And, while you are here, you should have a good time and regardless of what you do, you'll die anyway, so make the most of it.

I wonder what happened to this ad campaign....