The Illusion of Choice (Blog prompt #5)

This video discusses the organization The Center for Consumer Freedom. It talks about how choice in food is becoming a luxury rather than the privilege it should be. Companies are starting to exercise their power in the placement of their product and who it would appeal to. After watching this video, I noticed that it corresponds with what we have talked about in class, how choice is decided by the bottleneck companies in Patel's hourglass model. These companies, who control the price by using their name brand as leverage, are able to buy cheap and sell it to consumers for a large profit. Due to this, they try to place their products in the supermarket in a way that appeals to targeted audience. Candy, cookies and sugary cereals are placed low on the shelves so that children shopping with their parents see them at eye level. Milk is placed at the back of the store so consumers must walk through the aisles to get to it, where they might find something to buy that wasn't on their shopping list.
Consumers don't really have a choice in what they buy anymore. It is an illusion that many don't see through until they are shown something like Patel's hourglass model. I, myself, wouldn't have believed such a concept without seeing what researchers on the subject had to say. For example, we talked about apples in class. There are many types of apples in the world, right? How many of those types do you ever see at the supermarket? Maybe 4 or 5. This is because the companies that buy and sell apples are only going to sell the apples that look enticing to the consumer. Apples that are shiny, well shaped, and big. As such, you are getting the choice between the apples that the company is allowing you to choose from. To reiterate, the company picks the small sample of apples they think will sell well, and then places them in the market under the illusion that you get to pick what apple you still eat, which in turn is really what the company decided you could eat.
Consumer freedom neglects internationalism because it is cheaper for a consumer to buy from a supermarket than to buy locally from a farmer's market. This affects the "choice" that consumers can make, because when they buy from a supermarket, they eliminate the variety they can get from a farmer's market and begin only picking from what the supermarket lets them. What consumers don't realize, is that by eliminating said choices, they are actually making it harder on themselves in the long run. Buying cheaper from corporations and not locally results in those local farmers losing their jobs and competing with others for the same amount of jobs offered in the city or town they live in. In doing so, they also make it so that there is no where else to turn when the corporate prices go up.
The issue of race, class and location play into this subject at the same time I think. In places that are deemed "food deserts" there are no supermarkets around, just fast food restaurants. These areas are generally found in lower income, urban, and dominantly African American communities. Because of this, the choice of food simply doesn't exist in these areas. Residents of a food desert are subject to poor eating habits and over chemically ridden food, because they aren't given any other option.