Boomers and Brands

​This past week I spent a significant amount of time with my parents, during which I observed several dietary choices i simply could not understand.

My mother, who makes most food purchases and has had a successful career (successful enough to afford the best quality foods), repeatedly bought what I believe is totally crappy food for herself and her family.

The first of these was several types of pepperidge farms cookies.

Our family dynamic is an odd one. When all together it can be very hard to be trusting of the intentions in any conversation. It is all too easy to be judged or feel like an opinion is being impressed upon you in the form of “I’m just asking questions”.

This led me to step very carefully. As a seed oil disrespecter and a generally smart and well researched person. I could stand my ground on a discussion about seed oils on a bad day, that does not mean though, that I am evangelical to everyone around me about not eating toxic goop, even my family.

The moral dilemma of this is something I think about often. Seed oils are at the core of all modern chronic disease and I want my family to live long lives. There is an underlying self interest and moral interest to teach them. Alas - I have no solution here yet.

So there I was in the kitchen, finding pepperidge farms stuff in the cupboards. I know this brand. It is a clean branded cookie. I just don’t know this brand to be high quality.

This conversation then ensued over the course of several days

“Do you like pepperidge farms cookies?”

“Now that I can afford them, yeah. They are great quality”

“Did you have them growing up?”

“We could never afford cookies or bread like this growing up, only once we were married and successful”

“What makes you say they are high quality?”

“I just always knew them to be a trusted high quality brand”

I left it there but started formulating the idea behind this essay as the week went on.

Either boomers are completely captured by FMCG brand managers and always have been or, these brands were made cheaper with the expanded use of seed oils and have become fiat brands only to leave boomers loving the brand for what it once was without knowing it is not fiat food.

This became apparent later on when the ice cream shop we had started visiting every day told her that most of the ice cream they sold was made by Hersheys.

oh god.

There I was, buying in to the “made in the USA” branding, when I didn’t rub 2 brain cells together to workout an ice cream serving that large for $5 couldn’t possibly be made in good faith with good ingredients.

If the ice cream was Hersheys it was definitely heavily cut with plant fats and they weren’t coconut or palm oils.

But my mother, she said “ooo Hersheys I know them, good brand” and again it hit me like a lightening bolt.

These people literally do not know that Hersheys is all talk and no bite. They may be well known but they do not have a promise of quality. Consistency yes. Quality no.

This experience also made me feel very unwell, as a pufa avoider to come to terms with just how much pufa I was likely eating.

The final ghost came from an experience with a Wegmans vegetable platter. In her defense Wegmans grocery store was wonderful. I had never been in one and was in love with the experience. My mum said she’d never shopped there as a kid, it was too rich for them.

So she bought a vegetable platter with ranch dip. When she put it out on the table I looked at the dip lid - number 1 ingredient was soybean oil.

”I don’t think you should eat this, its made with some bad stuff.”
”I dunno Matt, it is Wegmans brand.”

We left it there.

I have reflected on these interactions for several days now.

Brands that run on boomers. Boomers believe they’re high quality. Boomers now have money. Boomers buy the brands for themselves and their families.

I’m sure these things taste great. But as we know taste is can no longer be trusted to determine quality.

Maybe in the fight for food we should start with boomers? Or is it their kids who likely have the most influence.