The Atlantic – which is fast becoming one of my favorite reads – has a story about how “plant-based” has become a description that has lost all meaning.
An excerpt:
“The ‘plant-based’ label lives on in virtually every food product imaginable: instant ramen, boxed mac and cheese, Kraft singles, KitKat bars, even queso. You can now buy plant-based peanut butter. You can also wash your hair with plant-based shampoo and puff on a plant-based vape.
“Queso made from cauliflower instead of milk is correctly described as plant-based. But if peanut butter is vegan to begin with, then what is the point of the label? And who asked for plant-based liquor? On packaging and ad copy, plant-based has been applied to so many items – including foods that are highly processed, or those that have never contained animal ingredients – that it has gotten ‘diluted to nothing’.”
The Atlantic writes that “the label’s vagueness has been a marketer’s dream, creating an enormous opportunity to capitalize on the perceived virtuousness and healthiness of eating plant-based.”
You can read the entire story here.
KC’s View:
A perfect example of how an industry, driven by greed, can kill a golden goose. In this case, a plant-based goose. You just exploit a concept to the point where it becomes meaningless, obscuring real meaning and effectiveness, and creating so much noise that real and useful information becomes indistinguishable from crapola.
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