Avocado Is it superfood
or a marketing scam?
Lingyi Zhu
Avocados are popular around the world, not only because of their looks
and health, but also the multinational agribusiness trade capital is trying to
brainwash consumers with beautiful stories. They certainly don't want to talk
about the sweaty truth of avocado production, but you need to know. In this
article, I'm going to introduce you to the nutritional value of avocados, the
marketing strategy behind avocados, and the trade behind avocados. After
reading this article, I hope you have a new understanding of avocados. When
you avoid the advertorial and know the truth behind the avocado trade, I hope
you can choose whether to eat it or not by yourself.
The nutrition of avocados
The first thing we need to know is avocado itself. Avocado is becoming
the poster child for healthy food, but how much do we know about it? Let's
break down the nutrients in avocados. When you Google avocados, most of
the results you find will link avocados to health. There are even some articles
say avocados is a kind of miracle fruit to help you lose weight. Avocados are
just a marketing gimmick. When you eat a lot of avocado, it just makes you
fat. The key to losing weight is to control the intake of refined sugar and fat.
The essential nutrient in Avocados is fat.
According to the USDA's "Food Composition Databases Show Foods -Avocados, Raw, California," a 136g peeled, seedless avocado from California
has 20.96 g of fat. It has 167kcal per 100 grams. Avocados do have more
protein and fiber than other fruits, but their fat content is surprisingly high
compared to other foods. The lipid of avocados up to 15.4 %, even more than
the 15 % found in regular pork. In terms of calories, the average fruit rarely
contains more than 1% fat, and the calories are generally maintained at 30 to
60 kcal per 100 grams. Avocados are 167 kcal per 100 grams. A big avocado
contains about 3kcal, while a 100g bag of fries which most people consider
unhealthy, contains only 234kcal. When you eat a big avocado, the calories
you intake equivalent a big fries! A person that goes on a diet to lose weight
dare not eat meat, dare not eat carbohydrate, dare not eat fruit, why this
person can feel relieved to eat avocados? This has to admire the marketing
formula of avocado traders. Next, let's take a look at the marketing strategies
of these fruit vendors.
The truth you should know
In fact, in the 1980s and 1990s, the obesity rate in the United States has
been high enough to cause everyone's concern. The nutritionists call on
Americans to reduce the intake of fat, so the fat content has become a
necessary standard to determine whether a food is healthy. That's when the
U.S. food and drug administration kicked avocados out of the healthy food
category, so avocado farmers and import-export businesses are grouchy. They
protest that according to this standard, both avocados and salmon are not
healthy, while fat-free jellies and sugary cereals are deemed "healthy." As a
result, the FDA changed its criteria for the avocados and put them back in the
"healthy food" category. This is a superexcellent opportunity for advertisers
to label avocados as a source of healthy unsaturated fat, unlike the bad fats
found in Fried chicken and potato chips.
Over the next three decades, that argument has won over countless middleclass weight watchers. And a lot of stars also advertise for avocados.
Let's take a look at the history of avocados
Avocado is not used to be called avocado but the alligator pear, which
is a proper description of how it looks. There is an ungainly name that's even
less on the table, aguacate. It is Spanish means testes. It is not a lovely name.
How to do marketing? Avocado is a word that must be changed by avocado
farmers. In the article "9 marketing tips brands can learn from avocados,"
author Harald explains why avocados quickly became a super fruit when they
were renamed. "In today’s globalised world, it is probably not the best idea to
change your name for each market. If you want a strong presence, you’ll
want a unique name that is easy to pronounce and remember in most
languages."(Harald) After the name change, farmers with deep pockets and
business acumen started raising money and advertising avocados. The
marketers created a tag for avocados -- the luxury of fruit, especially for the
elegant upper class. Luxury goods are always hot sellers, no matter what the
age. Just like today's luxury goods, there is nothing special about quality
design and style, but a luxury brand can sell for a considerable price. The
same goes for avocados, whose price has skyrocketed as the fruit's luxury
brand has become more popular.
With the avalanche of marketing advertisements and articles, a lot of
people believe that avocados are only affordable for the upper class and are
the most nutritious food to match the status of the upper class. Since then,
with the various stars in the social network publicity, avocados successfully
"health food", "superfood" image deeply implanted in the hearts of the
people.
There is no unpopularity fruit, only poor marketing.
In 2005, China opened access to Mexican avocados. Ten years later,
avocados from Chile and Peru were also granted entry permits. As a fruit, the
taste of avocados is really strange. It tastes like butter and is not at all like
regular fruit. In the first few years, the Chinese were really not used to the
taste. This is when the avocado traders can't sit still. In order to reverse
consumers' negative attitude towards avocados, they have made great efforts
to educate the public on various avocado diets. This has been so effective that
not only have sales of raw avocados soared but avocados, once available only
in high-end hotels, are now widely available on restaurant menus. Social
networks have also quickened the pace at which avocados are invading
China. Tons of article and advertorial held avocado become the "superfruit",
"forest butter".
In just a few years, thanks to a variety of offline and online efforts by
domestic merchants, as well as the
help of social networks, avocados
have quickly become a new favorite
among Chinese consumers. According
to Zhang’s article “2017 Year in
Review: China’s Avocado Market”, he
mentioned “Although a newcomer, the
avocado excelled in the Chinese
market. Data from China Customs
indicated that China imported 32,100
tons of avocado in 2017, increasing
more than 1,000 times from just 31.8
tons in 2011.”(Zhang) Avocado
marking has been achieved, with the
consumption of avocados in the United States growing by 10-30% annually,
and China becoming a new market for the export of avocados.
Behind the avocados is the dark truth
Avocados are crops which need vast water. It takes 100 gallons of water
to produce a pound of avocado. Which means when you eat an avocado, you
used up a bathtub of water.
In Mexico, where avocados are native, the high purchase price of avocados
has encouraged farmers to cut down virgin forests to expand their range,
leading to vast expanses of virgin forest being cleared for avocado cultivation
over the past four decades. According to Cuellar's article, "China's taste for
avocado linked to drought in Latin America," he talks about, "In Chile, the
most serious problem is water. In the
central avocado-producing province
of Petorca rivers have dried
up."(Cuéllar) In Chile, there's not
enough water to grow avocados.
Since the 1990s, the planting area
has increased eightfold, and farmers
are scrambling for water resources,
digging Wells deeper and deeper.
They even planted avocado in the mountains and began to use the glaciers
directly on the top. In addition to the resource crisis, avocados also lurk
behind the economic crisis. In order to maximize the benefits, farmers
continue to expand the planting area but still can not catch up with the pace
of consumption. As prices have risen, everyday ingredients that would
otherwise be readily available to farmers in the country of origin have risen in
price - when the time comes for overproduction, the dominant consumer
countries in the trade enjoy price cuts, while farmers in the country of origin
face high debts and stockpiled crops. Cuellar also writes about the "Beyond
environmental problems" caused by avocados. The but avocado has even
become a focus for organised crime in Michoacan. Cartels control large
swathes of the business and encourage illegal planting. "(Cuellar) local Mafia
monopoly avocado production and even the avocado became a" currency ",
or "jetton", And the farmers in order to exchange for the safety of survival
can only continue to be squeezed by these monopoly organizations.
What we should do?
In a word, should avocados be eaten or not? While I have shown the
truth behind a lot of avocados in this essay, I am not trying to crush them.
After all, it has a unique flavor and good nutrition. As D 'Costa says in the
article "How Marketing Changed the
Way We See Avocados", he made a
point that I agree with "At the end of
the day, Avocados have a place on
today 's table thanks in part to a
tireless campaign to redefine and
redraft their identity. Some of it was
misguided. Some of it was weird and
some of it was good. That is the nature
of advertising. What matters is That you think avocados are tasty and
necessary and not gross and mushy, And you put them in your baskets. "(D
'costa) With knowledge of marketing and trading, you can use your own ideas
to choose whether or not to eat this fruit. If you do not like the taste of
avocados, you do not need to force yourself to eat them because they're
"healthy." If you like avocados, eat it. Although as consumers we can't affect
avocado cultivation. However, consumers' choices are enough to change
dealers' management of avocado planting and affect the whole avocado
industry.
Work Citation
Food Composition Databases Show Foods -- Avocados, Raw, California,
ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/09038?
man=&lfacet=&count=&max=&qlookup=&offset=&sort=&format=Abridge
d&reportfmt=other&rptfrm=&ndbno=&nutrient1=&nutrient2=&nutrient3=&
subset=&totCount=&measureby=&Qv=2&Q326043=1&Q326044=1&Q326
045=1. National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference 1 Release April,
2018
Harald, Meyer-Delius. “9 Marketing Tips Superbrands Can Learn from
Avocados.” Printsome Insights - The Official Printsome Blog, 18 Jan. 2019,
blog.printsome.com/marketing-tips-superbrands-avocado/.
Zhang, Jing. “2017 Year in Review: China's Avocado Market.” 2017 Year in
Review: China's Avocado Market | China Fresh Fruit and Produce News, 5
June 2019, www.producereport.com/article/2017-year-review-china’savocado-market.
Cuéllar, Alejandra. “China's Taste for Avocado Linked to Drought in Latin
America.” China Dialogue, 12 Oct. 2018, www.chinadialogue.net/article/
show/single/en/10951-China-s-taste-for-avocado-linked-to-drought-in-LatinAmerica.
D'Costa, Krystal. “How Marketing Changed the Way We See
Avocados.” Scientific American Blog Network, 5 May 2017,
blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/how-marketingchanged-the-way-we-see-avocados/.