Of Sausages and Advertisements

I don’t watch television often – in fact, I think I can count the number of times I’ve sat in front of the TV per annum. However, sometimes I’d catch a glimpse of what my other family members are watching. This evening, as I was having a snack in the kitchen, I saw one of the advertisements on TV. It was an Indonesian advertisement that was trying to promote sausages. It was decent enough, until it came to the company’s jingle. I didn’t remember how it went precisely, but I can assure you the tune was very cheesy and the lyrics were, well, ridiculous! In a nutshell, the singers in the advertisement were singing how awesome and nutritious the sausages are. And yes, they used the word ‘nutritious’ in Indonesian.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Sausages? Nutritious? How absurd! They comprised of the excess meat of pigs and cows and chickens that the meat companies couldn’t sell directly to the consumers! The sausages can very well contain the snouts and the disgusting what not of those animals that have been butchered into pieces! In addition, sausages contain this red dye that can be toxic to our bodies when consumed in a large amount. So are sausages healthy? I think not!

Now don’t get me wrong, I love sausages! Despite knowing their origins and how they’re made (an episode of The Simple Life covers this process!) I still eat them anyways. But even so, I wouldn’t consider sausages as ‘nutritious’ at all. I can’t believe the sausage company had the nerve to promote sausages as healthy; I know it’s technically legal – especially in Indonesia – but imagine the reaction of the not-so-educated people who have watched this advertisement. I’m afraid they’re going to believe the company’s incorrect jingle. I know I’m probably making a big deal about the whole sausage promotion, but I know that every other company is also implementing false advertising or censoring what the consumers should be informed with. As a result, the society continues to be unaware, ignorant, and well, naïve of the consequences that they might reap from buying those products. And that is dangerous.