GUERILLA (UN)MARKETING

The first project begun the second week of December, 2016, is what we call gorilla marketing. This is a campaign to spread the word about sugar through post cards placed in obvious spots within grocery store chains. We don't want to bother the mom and pop stores who generate little money from sugar or sugar products. We have begun going into grocery stores to show moms and dads that the products they are buying for their children may not be the healthiest choices. The SUGARSENIC cards are placed by soda displays, shelves of cookies, crackers, cereals, freezers full of waffles, ice cream and aisles of sugar.

When the local Wegmans store head of security called me one day and said “if you come into the store again placing your sugarsenic cards between our foods, you will be arrested”. I knew this was not the official stand of the corporation so I met with the Senior Vice President of Wegmans and the local Manager. We talked for about an hour and came to the conclusion that they would lessen the sugar content of their products with the Wegmans name on it if I ceased the guerrilla marketing. So, three years later, the items which I look at appear to have about 30% less sugar than the other products sold there. This includes, cakes, pastries and yogurt. Kudos to Wegmans. We still have much to do however, in every store including theirs. At the children’s eye level are rows of cookies, sugared cereals and sodas and juices placed to entice parents to buy as their children cry out for products by name they have seen on TV. Is anyone at fault? We can start with the cereal and food industry for one, and go to the television stations on down to the parents who allow their children to watch these commercials. It will be a long process, will it not?

  Artist Richard Montoya of Charlottesville, Virginia is responsible for the label you see above, and it is copyrighted.

SNAP usage and sugar containing products: It has been estimated that 20% of the SNAP dollar goes to sugared products, this includes soda (half of that 20%, and sugar products such as cookies, high sugar content cereal, and pop tarts. When I (Greg Gelburd) have questioned my patients who use SNAP why more fresh foods are not purchased in large quantities, I am told that a. they are more expensive than processed food, and b. they take too long to prepare. One quote: “I work all day, my children have been home a few hours without me, they are starved, and it’s far easier to pop a frozen pizza or macaroni and cheese into the microwave than to steam some broccoli, cut some apples, make some stirred fried vegetables or even bake a potato”. Here in lies a big part of the problem. Ease of preparation and price.
Please email me some ideas you may have to overcome this situation which as you can imagine, is repeated every evening in homes across the nation. gelburd@gmail.com

Virginia House Bill on lowering costs of fresh fruit and vegetables