Yesterday was pretty exhausting for everyone. So, today’s post focuses on the things we can do something about, like checking on our open enrollment periods and fighting back against commercials that assume American consumers are idiots.
Open Enrollment Reminder
Guardian Unlimited produced a video starring Mia Hamm about open enrollment. You might not want to check your 401K holdings this week, but you should make sure your health insurance still meets your needs.
Who is KFC Kidding?
I can’t find the commercial on YouTube yet, but last night I saw a horrifying KFC commercial. The “$10 Challenge” featured a family going into a grocery store with a calculator to try to make a fried chicken dinner for less than $10. The young daughter asked the butcher “Seven pieces of chicken cost how much?” Then a whole package of flour went into the cart. The young son mentioned the 11 herbs and spices. Then the mom triumphantly held up her calculator and announced that KFC’s $10 meal was cheaper than cooking yourself.
Seriously? Are they kidding? Sure, if they had to buy every ingredient every night, eating out would be cheaper. Last time I checked, fried chicken doesn’t require five pounds of flour and a whole chicken can be had for around $7 (four pounds). Odds are pretty good that the average family already has most of the fried chicken ingredients on hand for their dinner. So, KFC’s target demographic is apparently customers who throw out all remaining ingredients after they make a single meal.
Even if I could eat KFC (which I can’t due to food intolerances), the insulting nature of this commercial would be enough to make me stop. But in case anyone doubted, yes, you can make dinner for four for $10. The fine Top Chef contestants managed to do it, and it was even gourmet. If you want a KFC-style dinner with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and homemade biscuits, open your pantry. You probably already have the ingredients you need except for the chicken and potatoes. Go one better than the commercial and use real potatoes, not potato flakes. Maybe, if you’ve got a buck left after the “exorbitant” cost of fresh, whole ingredients, serve green beans or another fresh vegetable, too.
Who is Big Corn Trying to Fool?
And then there are the new high-fructose corn syrup commercials. Once again – really? Who are they kidding? Are they really trying to convince us that their product is natural? How dumb do they think we are?
So now you’ve done something productive and transferred your rage to something new. What’s, besides the Bailout/stock market/news/Wall Street has your blood boiling?
What have you decided to take control of in your life?
