Question 1
The statement made by Gary Hirshberg means that consumers do not know the power they possess in influencing the type of products sold in stores. Stores take note of all the products that their customers are buying. Based on this information, stores understand what their customers want. As such, stores will try as much as possible to align with their customer preferences and stock the products that are most appealing to their customers.
I agree with Hirshberg’s statement because most consumers think that the purchases they make are negligible and cannot have any significant effect on what the stores stock. On the contrary, every purchase a customer makes counts. Stores will ensure that any item that is taken from their shelves is restocked so as to retain their customers. If a product is not moving from the shelves, stores will not restock it and might ultimately do away with it.
Question 2
If healthy food were to cost less than other food, I still do not think people would eat more it. Although price is the primary factor that influences what people eat, it is not the only factor. Other factors that influence people’s food preferences include convenience and taste. That is why many people prefer fast foods because despite being cheap, they are easily accessible and tasty. Most people also do not have the time or the cooking skills to prepare a healthy meal. This might make them decide to go for the more expensive but tastier and readily available unhealthy food.
Question 3
The most effective way to change people’s food choices would be to change policies as opposed to informing the public about health benefits and environmental impacts. Most people are addicted to sugary food and cannot stay away from them despite knowing the health implications. Others believe that it is not their responsibility to take care of the environment or their actions are too minimal to have an impact on the environment. This leaves policy change as the only way of influencing people’s food choices.
The unhealthy foods that are preferred by most people are heavily subsidized. Changing the policies to remove the subsidies on the unhealthy foods will increase the prices of the foods and also their availability. This is because their production cost will go up and farmers will not be able to produce the same quantity of food. The policy changes could also transfer the incentives previously offered to unhealthy foods to healthy foods to increase their production. This will reduce their prices and increase their availability making them more appealing to consumers.
Question 4
One thing that can be done collectively to encourage people to eat healthy and economically sustainable foods is the development of programs that facilitate healthy eating. The program should specifically target parents because the backgrounds and upbringing of people play a very important role in influencing people’s lifestyle choices. The eating habits formed by families either because of their culture or religion will most of the time be picked up by children.
The government can take advantage of this fact and develop programs that will change the type of food parents cook for their families. This could include such things as offering fresh fruit and vegetable coupons to parents. Such a program would increase the number of times a family eats healthy meals. The practice would slowly be picked up by families and would have an impact on the future eating preferences of children.
