health halo everywhere!

It was rather a smooth sailing getting inside LAX considering we might have hit the Thanksgiving traffic. On route to Taiwan this time, we’re stopping our usual spot, the KFC at Tom Bradley. Who could say no to these finger licking good fried chicken?

We watched Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2: Holly Chicken not so long ago. Ever since then, the “Health Halo” effect has stuck in me and “seriously” I’ve been seeing health halo effect everywhere. So what is the health halo effect? It refers to the act of overestimating the healthfulness of an item based on a single claim such as being low in calories or low in fat. It’s been use by food marketer in recent years especially for “not so healthy fast food". The words associated with health halo are “crispy”, “grilled”, “fresh”, “free-range”, “hormone free”, “ quality”, and “crafted” etc.

As we settled in our very “health” KFC meals, I immediately spotted the health halo effect all over the nowadays “cooler, healthier, millennium-appealed” KFC on its packaging. From “ Freshly prepared “ to “ USDA inspected & high quality chicken” to “prohibit the use of hormones or steroids.” I couldn’t help thinking that yeah Morgan was right about that – nothing (ingredients, materials, preparing methods) of the fast food has changed yet it has definitely looks more “glamorous”, “cooler”, and "greener" with all the health halo around it.