Out of the Cracker Barrel

Abstract

When modern food processors, figuratively speaking, took soda crackers out of barrels and began to sell them to us done up in moisture-proof, cellophaned packages, they did this in the name of sanitation and decency. But, at the same time, they made package and container design a highly technical art, and they rendered dozens of bulk products more attractive, deceptive, costly, and better known than they had ever been before. Just how wise were the processors? The costs of food advertising are largely borne by nationally known brands of packaged goods. Of the assumed two billion dollars spent annually on advertising a wise guess has it that three hundred millions go to finance the advertisement of food products. Coffee advertising, mostly for packaged products, runs into millions, one company spending two millions a year on radio publicity alone.