Tricks of the Trade in Food Commercials
- October 10, 2011 |
- by Laurie David
The front page of yesterday’s New York Times’ Sunday Business section was an article called “Grilled Chicken, That Tempermental Star.”
The article talked about the $4 billion in television air time that’s purchased by big restaurants and food companies to make consumers want to buy their food. $4 billion! Wow!
The stars of this piece were the food commercial directors who get paid daily rates with fee of $60,000 per day and up to $150,000. They get paid these big bucks because they’ve mastered the art of making food look oozier, cheesier, yummier with the tons of tricks up their sleeve including glue, sparkles and fake food (e.g. lard as a substitute for ice cream). . . And then all these fake images of over-processed food are marketed directly to us and our children.
Imagine if the quinoa growers, the kale producers and the broccoli council had these food directors, food stylists and deep pockets on their side? Makes you think, doesn’t it?
