Freedman and Jurafsky Readings

Reading this article I noticed many ideas that I had already discovered myself. This idea of more expensive brands of food using the concepts of superiority and distinction to sell their food is something that I have already noticed in society. I have always seen myself on the “lower-socioeconomic  status” end of this. When I see a Naked drink or a pop bag of chips they just feel too pretentious. They keep trying to convince me that they are so much better for you and taste better, but I have never really gone for it. I think that I will always be content with my bag of greasy Lays potato chips. Cheap, tasty, and gone in ten minutes. When I’m craving potato chips I’m not looking for a health conscious snack that will forever convince me that I am not eating potato chips but some new way that society is trying to trick me into eating what I see “not worth the health” food. I think that this goes along the lines of the authenticity that the authors were discussing. They were noting how while the upper-classes may see the natural authenticity of a product, the lower-classes may see the traditional authenticity of a product. I think that there is some truth to this. I know that I have always eaten Lays ever since lunch time at Grandma’s house when I was a kid. I still choose Lays chips over all others because it is what’s familiar to me. The thought of switching over to an expensive brand of potato chip with only all-natural ingredients and 0 everything is frightening.

One of the aspects of this article that I found most interesting was how the authors used the analysis of a very specific product, potato chips, to show how the linguistics of almost any food advertisement can be used to target people of a certain socioeconomic status. By using the concepts of authenticity, distinction, health, and language they were able to show the different ways that advertisers are trying to reach certain markets within the potato chip industry. These concepts can be applied to almost any type of food sold to the public. For example if you consider the Naked drinks or Vitamin water. These brands will use very different words to describe the drink providing a certain distinction above normal juices or god forbid sodas. With these different tools for understanding how advertisers target certain groups of people, we can understand the impact that these food products have on certain groups of people and how they use these foods to maintain their “higher status”.