Celebrity Endorsement: 50 Cent and Vitamin Water

Vitamin Water is quickly becoming a household name. Each flavor of the delicious beverage is enhanced with a wide array of vitamins. Each bottle also has a quirky, creative blurb on the label that is usually very sarcastic and entertaining. The entire Vitamin Water name, due to its' creative labels, has a very laid back and comedical reputation.
In 2007, the rapper 50 Cent struck a million dollar deal with Vitamin Water. Not only was he enlisted to endorse the product, he even got his own flavor. Although 50 Cent is not the typical type of celebrity to endorse a product, he is perfect for Vitamin Water. 50 Cent has a tough, athletic reputation. He is in very good shape and that lifestyle plays very well into the Vitamin Water brand.
50 Cent's endorsement really helps the brand sell their product. His endorsement attracts athletic people to the product as well as fans of his music. I think without his endorsement and without a flavor named after him Vitamin Water would not have as great of a reputation as they have now.

Speech self-evaluation

I have quite rationally titled my demonstration speech "How to Get a Phone Number." In my speech I broke down the nerve wrecking process of asking for someones number into several easy to follow steps.
While viewing the recording of my speech, I came across a few things that I could have improved on. First off I look incredibly nervous. I was moving my hands a ton and speaking too quickly. The way I was standing was really awkward. Also, I believe I should have used a better visual aid. My speech was kind of "out there" so a good visual aid was hard to think up. Had I thought of it at the time, I would have used the beginning of this video as a visual aid as how to not ask for a number.
Overall I thought my speech went pretty well. I believe the content was really good and covered the topic entirely. I was comfortable with my subject matter and knew it well. I feel like I divided the process into easily understandable steps that were not too complicated. I think that I got the point across and entertained the class at the same time.
Other than the few minor presenting errors, I thought the content and overall presentation went well.

Response to Ashley's post Regarding low-fat diets

Ashley made a post criticizing Pollan's view on "low-fat" diets. Pollan disapproves of using altered, low-fat products instead of just using natural products even if they do have a higher fat content. After making her own meal using a low-fat product, Ashley did not share the same views as Pollan regarding food catered to America's low-fat obsession. She claimed the low-fat product she used was delicious and low-fat diets in general are healthy.
Although I do not agree with Pollan on many things, I do have to disagree with Ashley and take Pollan's side regarding diet foods. Diet foods are in no way equivalent to normal products. Many low-fat, low-calorie, or low-sugar foods I have had taste in no way like regular food. Not only do they taste bad, usually the nutritional value is inferior to the natural food. The altered products also usually have a suspiciously long list of ingredients that I cannot pronounce and that look nothing like names of actual foods. Ashley did bring to view a study showing a low-fat diet reduced cholesterol in a test group though she failed to mention if they were eating natural low-fat foods or altered low-fat foods.
I do believe that the country has an obsession with the words "low-fat" on labels. Low-fat, according to the FDA, just means a large quantity of the food can be eaten in a day without exceeding the daily recommended serving. I personally do not believe that the taste and possibly poor nutritional value of a product are worth risking just for the label "low-fat" on a product.

"Real" food Vs. "Fake" food

Michael Pollan distinguishes between "Real" and "Fake" foods in his book In Defense of Food. Pollan classifies "real" foods as unmodified, basic foods like vegtables and "fake" foods as processsed products with additives and unnatural ingredients.
While thinking about what I have eaten in the past and what I eat now, I realized that chicken noodle soup is a major product that I have switched from "real" to "fake." When I was younger, I can destinctly recall my mother making me her delicious chicken noodle soup everytime I was sick. The soup took hours of preparation to chop the vegtables, cook the chicken, and let the broth set. Recently, I have unfortunately turned to the convenience of canned soup. The soup is cheap and takes only a few minutes to heat up, perfect for a college student.
The canned soup does share several qualities with my mothers soup. The canned soup has a delicious broth as well as some small pieces of chicken. In the can of soup there is a significant amount of protein as well as a few vitamins from the vegtables. Another thing the soup has, unlike my moms soup, is the additive monosodium glutamate, or MSG. MSG is used to enhance the taste in many foods. The additive can reduce the amount of sodium in a product, but otherwise is nutritionally empty. Nicholas Bakalar suggests MSG is may cause obesity in his article Nutrition: MSG Use Is Linked to Obesity. Knowing what I know now, the "fake" canned soup product in no way is a substitute for my mothers delicious "real" home-made soup.

About In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Michael Pollans' book In Defense of Food is a detailed criticism of what Mr. Pollan believes to be the average American diet. Although written in a rather cocky tone, In Defense of Food makes several good points about modern food consumption and production. The book takes a look at many aspects of food production and food intake. Within the first few chapters, Michael Pollan concentrates primarily on the recent emphasis of nutrients in food products. The book In Defense of Food contains several agreeable points, although some thoughts are disputable. In the book, Mr. Pollan discusses the increase in additives in food in order to make processed items more "nutritious". He talks about how products that once had only a few ingredients before the nutritional revolution now have long lists of additives and imitation items on their labels. The article 12 Food Additives to Avoid by Jean Weiss lists additives that have actually been shown to be harmful as opposed to helpful. Michael Pollan also makes a good point to criticize government regulation on food, or rather the lack of regulation. The FDA as well as Congress, Pollan explains, have done very little in the past twenty years to set rules for the labeling of processed and imitation products. For a number of years, many imitation and fake products could be put on a shelf and pass as regular, unaltered foods. Although I agree with Pollan in regards to altered and unnatural food, I thought he did not give enough credit to modern nutrition. Aspects of modern nutrition such as daily intake, the necessity of some nutrients, and the attribution certain nutrients have to personal health are all important in my eyes. He also seemed cynical that some products, such as chocolate, contain some nutritious element. Pollan appears to be convinced only products in the raw can be truly healthy. Michael Pollan makes several good observations about altered foods, but seemingly undermines modern nutritional understandings.

Successes and Opportunities for Population-Based Prevention and Control: At A Glance 2009

Center of Disease Control on Diabetes