Nutrition Labels

Nutrition labels are required components of food products that manufacturers must use to state the name and contents of the produced food item. Nutrition labels are required to contain the following information: name of product, name and address of manufacturer, nutritious information, serving size, servings per container, and percentage of daily value. Nutritious labels are valuable resources for consumers because they accurately provide ingredient amounts that affect diet and personal health. To maintain a healthy diet, consumers should consistently refer to nutrition labels to avoid ingredients that are harmful to personal health.

Challenge: For one full day, record the information from the nutrition labels of the food you eat. Once the day is completed, answer the following questions: What food ingredients would you consider harmful to your personal health? How much (percentage or measurement) of those ingredients were consumed in your day's meals? What was your total calorie intake? What food ingredients would you consider beneficial to your personal health? How much (percentage or measurement) of those ingredients did you consume? What would you change about your diet, based upon your recognition of nutrition label content?

Advertisements Change Over Time

Many companies have been selling their product(s) for decades, some even centuries. Obviously, companies cannot use the same advertising methods they did when they first began production because over time their consumer audience has changed significantly in regards to their preferences and desires. Technological advances have provided the opportuntiy for new and creative methods of advertising products. Advertising is a continuous battle to create the most appealing advertisement.

Challenge: Using the website, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ccmphtml/index.html, research Coca-Cola's advertisements and advertising methods over the last fifty years. Describe Coca-Cola advertisements fifty years ago. What advertising methods were incorporated for that time period in history? Compare advertisements throughout the years and compare them to Coca-Cola's current advertisements. How are past advertisements different from current advertisements? What methods have remained consistent throughout the past fifty years?

Can You Identify False Advertisement?

As consumers, we our faced with a limitless amount of choices for items we can buy from countless manufacturers that are in a continuous, heated competition with one another. For every item we have in mind, there are hundreds of different styles and models we can choose from, all ranging differently in price and quality. So, how do companies convince a consumer to buy their product instead of a rival company's? The answer is quite simple...through advertisement! Our radios, magazines, televisions, billboards, cities, newspapers, etc. are filled with creative and daring advertisements that figuratively "grab" our attention as consumers. Despite the appeal of these advertisements, companies create advertisements for a specific purpose. That purpose is to produce as many sales as possible, in other words as much PROFIT or MONEY as possible. Companies use advertising methods that do not necessarily reflect the quality or sales price of an item; rather, companies create advertisements with themes that will appeal to the targeted audience age or the current popular trend. Companies often employ celebrities and famous sports figures to encourage consumers to buy the product in response to their favorite actor or athlete instead of their actual desire to have the product.

Challenge: Using the websites, http://www.magazine-ads.com/, http://www.adweek.com/aw/creative/best_spots_90s/index.jsp, and http://www.bwgreyscale.com/ad_index.html locate five advertisements from magazines, newspapers, and television commercials and record what methods the company uses to advertise their product. After identifying advertising strategies, answer the following questions: What characteristics of the advertisement appealed to you? Would you buy the product? Why?