In the marketing world, the color green is representative of healthy food. And of course, when you think of such food, your mind naturally goes right to McDonald’s new Go Wrap, am I right?
No, it probably doesn’t, and it shouldn’t. However, McDonald’s has been working up a new marketing strategy, which put simply, is the use of green stickers. McDonald’s has decided to make a new reputation for itself by hyping the Go Wrap as a fresher alternative to the usual fast food by slapping a green label on it.
Unfortunately for them, and us, the presence of the color green on something does not make it healthy, it just makes the unwary consumer think it’s healthy, a technique called “greenwashing.”
McDonald’s chicken and ranch Go Wrap weighs in at a whopping 590 calories; 44 percent of an average person’s daily fat intake, according to a March 25, 2013 article on ThinkProgress.org.
The sneaky use of green product labels on unhealthy foods isn’t a new phenomenon. A 2010 Wall Street Journal article cited a study conducted by TerraChoice, a North American environmental marketing company, that showed more than 95 percent of consumer products examined committed at least one offense of greenwashing.
These unwarranted claims are often as simple as putting the words “all-natural” on the box of food that isn’t the least bit “natural.” For example, the Wendy’s chain had a similar campaign where they asserted their french fries were “freshly cut” and made with sea salt, but does that equal more nutrition? Not really. They’re still french fries—full of fat and terrible for you.
According to the ThinkProgress.org article, a study from Cornell University found that people tend to think a candy bar with a green calorie label is healthier than the ones with red or white labels, even when the calorie content is the same.
High-fructose corn syrup is usually the most recognizable indicator among the list of ingredients that nothing else following it is in your best interest to eat. A worldwide study from Global Health showed countries that mix high-fructose corn syrup into processed foods and soft drinks have higher rates of diabetes than countries that do not. It’s not surprising, but the amount of products containing the sweetener is staggering—including many products claiming to be “healthy.”
How do these nutrition imposters slip through the cracks? According to TerraChoice, the number one way companies greenwash is they don’t have a third-party certification. Meaning, the consumer has no way of validating the “all-natural” claims.
Why we trust companies who see us as nothing more than consumers to feed us healthy foods, I’ll never know. But it’s probably in your best interest to make a habit of checking the ingredients and nutritional facts on the foods you eat—if you are indeed searching for something healthy to consume.
Your dollar is a vote towards what is profitable to the corporations, who are in essence, lying to you. That money raises their profit graphs during the weekly board meeting, reinforcing the idea that deceitful marketing strategies are acceptable.
It is an unfortunate reality, but we live in a consumerist world. Anything goes when it comes to our nutrition, including color-coded psychological manipulation, apparently. But don’t take my word for it—just check the labels.
