September 05, 2006
Sugar Swings!
Like a turtle needs a seatbelt
This was a full-page ad in a 1965 issue of LIFE magazine. You will notice it was presented by Sugar Information, Inc. SII was the “public education and communication” arm of the Sugar Association, formed in 1943 and dedicated to "the scientific study of sugar’s role in food and communication of that role to the public.” The “Sugar Swings” campaign was launched after the Research arm of the Sugar Association, known as the Sugar Research Foundation, discovered, through carefully-conducted impartial studies, a troubling trend: There was a veritable energy crisis afflicting our nation’s young, perky schoolchildren. High school students like Mary who could formerly be relied on to sail through their activity-packed daily schedules with boundless sugar-fueled energy and enthusiasm were being discovered in increasing numbers slumped over unconscious in mid-Watusi at sock-hops all across the nation. The culprit? The growing popularity of artificially-sweetened foods and beverages.
Realizing that the exhaustion which is the inevitable result of a sugar-poor diet would not only leave children America’s youth vulnerable to “the bugs and ailments that are always lying in wait,” but also to the incursions of Communism, the diligent scientific experts at SRF wasted no time alerting their partners at Sugar Information, Inc. to the imminent threat facing our nation’s best and brightest. Ads like the one you see above were the result, and they arrived not a second too soon. Armed with the knowledge that daily consumption of sugar was essential to continued health and well-being, concerned mothers across the nation took to heart the life-saving advice to “Play safe with your young ones – make sure they get sugar every day.”
You know what else is a valuable source of energy for growing boys and girls? Cigarettes.
