The way I see it, it is like anything else. I hate it when I have no time to cook, and I have to bring Ramen for lunch at work. I always get some comment from my peanut gallery friend along the lines of “Enjoy your sodium lunch!” Leave me alone. I’m not making you eat it. I’m sure we can all agree that there are things we should not eat excessive amounts of: sodium, trans fat, HFCS, etc. But I don’t see why people have to get all hot and bothered if I choose to eat these things. I don’t eat a doughnut under the impression that it is health food; on the contrary, I know it is bad for me. But one won’t kill me. I know Ramen is loaded with Na and MSG, I know. But I’m not making anyone else eat it, so lay off me. I don’t eat these things all the time, its OK.
Yes, HFCS is in lots of products. But it is the choice you, the consumer, makes. It is easy to read a label and see if that ingredient is in it. And if it is, choose a different product. I have this beef with trans fats. Some brands of frozen waffles had trans fats. So I bought the other brand.
And as for the advertising, television in general is meant to sway the viewer one way or another. You see a commercial for the new iPhone, and you make a choice about whether you need one. You see a commercial for an early bird sale at Target, you make the decision to go. If you see a commercial for eating more dairy, you make the decision to eat dairy. And the same goes for the corn syrup commercial. Make the decision. All you have to do is choose to listen to the commercial or not.