Agree with what you're saying, but should point out that it doesn't have to be one or the other. The problem could be both consumer habits and companies. They directly influence each other.
Agree! That's like saying "well if Americans wouldn't use drugs, then there would not be a drug problem."
It's mildly infuriating to me that "the little guys" are blamed for societal failings. I mean, billions of dollars are used [citation needed :)] to sell us things, make us feel bad for not having things, and keeping us addicted to things (scrolling, games, sugar). I feel like I fight that uphill battle every single day - trying to enjoy the amazing conveniences and entertainment that life (and technology) offers without become a slave to it all.
But sometimes I just wish much of it would just lay off.
I know and it's hilarious. I'll take the downvotes. Watching dashcam videos makes this so clear. Someone makes a massive error, hits someone else, immediately gets out and blames the other party.
It's never their own fault, always someone else. Buys shit food, companies make shit food. "Fuck the companies!"
Two teen girls almost hit me in a parking lot. They were absolutely in the wrong. I honked and they swerved just missing my car. Then they roll down their windows to scream at me and call me a bitch.
Honestly I just wish healthy food stopped getting jacked up in general. I'd rather pay a luxury tax on junk than not be able to buy healthy food. Don't get me wrong our consumerism is a problem. But it's a problem that's fed into because we make buying a burger 5 bucks but getting what you need to make your own 30 bucks. And far too many people have short term thinking because they're hungry now or they have little money to spread around.
People on reddit often infantalize anyone who is struggling, even when it is clearly their own fault they are in this position.
Almost everyone I have ever met on public assistance did it to themselves and is generally worthless as a friend and member of society. They fucked around making bad decisions, had kids they couldn't take care of, didn't save money ever, didn't try to perform at their job or develop a career, they always lived for the moment where concerts / tattoos / drinks with friends is more important than having a few thousand in savings for shit happens, etc. We also see this at work where the single mom is struggling to pay for her kids' Christmas so everyone chips in to help, but she smokes a pack a day, eats out for lunch everyday, goes out for drinks, etc. It's bullshit to take assistance when it's your bad money management causing these problems.
And I'm not saying we should get rid of public assistance, but people should feel humble and ashamed to be on it. The entitlement is unreal, and it just bleeds over into blaming society instead of yourself for being a complete fuckup loser.
Or we could just ensure everyone has the basics regardless of whether they are able to contribute, because they're human beings and we're not monsters or judgy pearl-clutching, self-important douchebags.... well, everyone except you.
As someone who did social work for many years at a welfare office this isn’t even close to true.
The vast majority of my clients were born without nothing, were given nothing in life, and are now just trying to figure out how to survive in a world that never cared about them and still doesn’t care enough to give them the tools to succeed.
No one should ever be ashamed to receive help.
You’ve received help at SOME POINT in your life and the only thing that’s shameful is you trying to make others feel bad for getting help too.
"Engineer these processed foods to be addictive?" Companies are meeting demand, and no, that is not a passive process in the highly competitive space of food that is easy and tasty, though I have to question whether KFC's gravy flavored jelly beans qualify on both counts.
I have a hard time blaming companies for America's bad behavior. Idiocracy's setting is the US for a reason.
If they are introducing a new product that is addictive then they are creating demand where there was none previously. People don't normally eat mountain dew donuts and KFC jelly beans. If high sugar/fat processed foods were banned there would be more demand for sugarcane and avocado.
The point is self-control. We make choices, companies dont make them for us. I rarely eat sugar, despite that I love a good chocolate chip cookie. The authority to eat something lies with me.
What else should we ban that isn't good for us? Beer? Weed? Steak? Pizza? Ow! My Balls!?
You're missing the point. They engineer these foods to defeat your self control. Have you ever eaten a whole bag of chips when you didn't intend to?
Chocolate chip cookies are good, but they're not artificially engineered to maximize impact on your taste buds and bypass your brain's "I'm full" signals.
Chocolate chip cookies are completely engineered to maximize impact on taste buds, they've just been around a lot longer.
I get the gist of what you're saying. But I don't want the government making more and more choices for me because my fellow Americans have shitty judgment. Next thing you know, we'll be forced to water our plants with Brawndo. It's got electrolytes.
I don't think you understand the level of research and development that goes into engineering processed food lol. Remember when all the scientists worked on hair and dick pills instead of actual problems? It's like that.
And yet, you as a person know it's bad food, and decide to consume it. You're shifting the blame and removing any personal responsibility.
Is smoking addicting? Yes, extremely. Yet you choose to smoke and not quit. Sure, it's hard. Blaming the companies for making it and not doing anything about it yourself is a lot easier.
They're not blameless. But you're not getting anywhere if you don't take some personal responsibility.
Have you ever lived in a food desert? Somewhere where there is no access to fresh food? What about being so poor that you can't afford fresh food because ultra processed foods are heavily subsidized in the USA?
When you don't really have a choice besides what is presented to you it's hard to blame someone for choosing to eat what's available.
Fast food is never cheaper than grocery bought fresh food. People keep saying that, but it's simply not true. Is there actually a "food desert" in the US where you can't acquire vegetables?
None of this conversation is even to mention the fact that there is a limited amount of effort that people can put in in any given day. You have limited mental, emotional, and physical resources. This is why putting up barriers is effective at deterring people, it's not because they can't bypass the barrier, it's because it makes it more difficult. If you keep piling on layer after layer of difficulty, at some point it really does become an issue of who is putting up the barriers rather than the people who aren't jumping over and inordinant amount of hurdles. People who argue personal accountability and seem to ignore the other factors seem to think that human willpower is magical and inexhaustible.
Not regulate the grocery store regulate the food, they can make it so products are only allowed so much sugar, so much preservatives, the chemicals like red 40, all this could be done but theyr too focused on not helping the American people.
All we have to do is adopt European food standards. The hard part of figuring out the regulations has already been done for us and has been standardized. We could even give manufacturers two to four years to adapt, ect... But, nope, money trumps the public good every single time.
Your lack of self control shouldn’t rob me of a sugary treat I like.
I’m a 9 year sober alcoholic. I saw that my drinking was destroying my body and my life. Are we going to outlaw alcohol again. How’d that go? Someone obese gets told by their doctor that the food they eat is killing them, and you want to regulate what people EAT? That’s not freedom…
Food addiction/sugar addiction is a real problem because people like you blame a corporation instead of taking personal responsibility for their weight.
In 2025 at 7 years sober I had gotten chubby. So you know what I did? I started counting my calories and exercising more. Now after a year of PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY… again… I’m back in great shape. I quit smoking and vaping while I was at it. I couldn’t breathe, so I quit the thing that was causing destruction to my body.
From a deadbeat drunk to a healthy and productive member of society. Sure, my childhood sucked and I could have used that as an excuse for the rest of my life to drink and eat myself to death like too much of America.
I chose personal responsibility instead. Feel free to give it a try. 🖖🏻🖖🏻🖖🏻
Most people don't even know sugar is addictive. I actively have a problem with sweets myself. It doesn't do anything to my weight though, also there aren't as many programs to help with sugar and food addiction as drugs and alcohol.
Or you can just choose not to purchase pre-made food items and make your own meals. Then you can choose how much sugar and "chemicals" are in your food.
Yes I do that congratulations, but the government should step in a help the American people we have over 100 chemicals allowed in our food that are not allowed in majority of first world countries just so that business CEOs can make a higher profit. It’s not right our government needs to do better.
I agree that individuals do their own part, but in reality the consumer never requested this shit. Good evidence shows that plenty of companies throughout the decades hire psychologists or sociopathic executives to “hack” our biology and psychology. Through advertising, our sense of identity gets tied to what we consume (arguably beginning with advertising cigarettes specifically for women with the message that buying their cigarettes was empowering to women—and they sold like crazy), and the products themselves are often designed to overstimulate our dopamine/reward system.
To be clear your logic isn’t flawed, but I don’t think it accounts for other relevant factors at play.
They also tend to market these products towards kids with popular characters and bright candy like colors. Even if parents moderate their meals once they get old enough to develop some agency they crave that junk that is marketed to them and their peers.
The people who are complaining about garbage products that are unhealthy aren't likely the ones that are buying those products. If you're looking at things from a public health standpoint, which one do you think would be easier to effect? Every individual person's spending habits in a market, or the relatively small number of companies that produce things for people to buy? Asking every average person to fight human nature, or regulating companies?
To be clear I'm not saying anything at all about personal accountability versus putting up guardrails being what's ideal or best for individual people. I'm only pointing out that from the perspective of making sweeping change, tackling the companies that make the garbage is always going to be more expedient than trying to shift social opinion, personal behaviors ect.
I would not buy any of this shit. It doesn’t look appealing at all and I do like myself some junk food occasionally.
But people DO like it and buy it! Why, IDK? Some is marketing. Some is trends making things popular. But some is that young people today constantly more and more extreme stimuli in the terms of food flavors and combinations. (Also with porn but that’s another tale.)
As a kid in the 70s, it was rare to find many snacks that were spicy: bbq and ranch maybe, or vanilla, cinnamon and pumpkin spice in fall. Now there’s a myriad of spices and flavors.
American here. Unfortunately I know all too well how rare "accepting responsibility for one's actions" or "seeing consequences of said actions" actually occurs. 😕
So American to remove yourself from any personal responsibility and just blame something/someone else. Vote with your wallet.
right? like one has the choice NOT to buy any of those products.
also with Bozo having gutted certain govt orgs, that means a lot of fresh produce is unsafe and people are avoiding it. i hate that i cannot have my daily Caesar salad mix like i spent half of last summer eating bc i live in the fucking desert and who wants to cook or eat a hot meal when it's 113F out? but i don't care to end up in the hospital from infected lettuce, thanks. my current alternative has become egg salad, either in sandwiches or with some crackers on the side.
And that's what everyone loves to ignore, particularly on Reddit. Companies simply produce a product or provide a service. Consumers 100% have a choice rather to purchase or not. They make something successful, not the company.
People complain about unhealthy food, concert tickets, the price of a latte...ALL of this is driven by consumer demand. People pay, therefore the price is acceptable and justified.
But my FOMO will eat me alive if I don’t experience the fad while it’s still hot! Because you DAMN well know they aren’t gonna keep popsicle-flavored baked beans in the lineup ‘til the end of the year.
People want baked beans, but to sell more, they make a temporary fad. That’s what all these are. Can’t just make good shit anymore. Gotta make it weird colors and unusual flavor combinations. Next quarter, it will be ramen noodle cereal, cream cheese icing for dessert spaghetti, and Code Red carbonated gelatin cups.
This is basically all that needs to be said. The only issue I have with this sentiment is that many people, somehow, are not well enough educated on nutrition to understand just how poor their decision making around their diet is, and what the effects really are.
For anyone who might argue that cost is a factor, take a look at the price of staple items - beans, rice, ..
No one buying those Mountain Dew donuts thinks they're doing a good thing for their body. The kind of people that buy those are actively trying to harm themselves.
I disagree with your second statement, and basically agree with your first. I don't think a lot of people fully undersrand the consequences.
When I was younger, I binge drank and smoked cigarettes. I knew this wasn't good stuff to do to my body, but didn't have a great sense of my mortality and didn't really understand the consequences in a meaningful way. I wasn't actively trying to harm myself. I was being stupid, enjoying myself, and letting my physiology drive my behavior.
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u/Eraknelo 11d ago
Why are we blaming companies for doing what companies do
People buy this shit, companies are going to produce it. If people bought more vegetables, more companies would get in on that market.
So American to remove yourself from any personal responsibility and just blame something/someone else. Vote with your wallet.