Food Inc Techniques

Food, Inc. (2009) is an Academy Award nominated documentary. The purpose of this film is to demonstrate the flaws within the food industry in the United States and persuade viewers (consumers) to change the way they eat and to buy products from companies “that treat workers, animals and the environment with respect”. In order to persuade viewers of Food, Inc. to change their relationship with the food industry, the film utilizes footage captured on hidden cameras is also used to show viewers parts of the food industry that would otherwise be unknown as well as interviews with various kinds of people such as farmers and food safety advocates. However, some of the claims that the interviewees make are questionable. Three deceptive techniques

are hasty conclusion, freeloading term and popularity. Despite the interviewees using different techniques in their claims, they were all deceptive and questionable for the same reason. Their statements were questionable primarily because the interviewees would make grandiose statements but lacked hard (or not enough) evidence to back up their claims. In a segment of the film that is discussing the outbreaks of various food-borne illnesses, investigative journalist Eric Schlosser is interviewed and he uses the deceptive technique of a hasty conclusion. This section of the film uses video clips from television news coverage starting in 1993 to show the various outbreaks that have taken place over the years. Schlosser states that “These [food] regulatory agencies are being controlled by the very companies they are supposed to be scrutinizing”. He supports this statement by citing that during the

is popularity which is present in a statement made by Gary Hirshberg who is the founder of Stonyfield Farm, which makes organic yogurt. When speaking about the positive environmental impact of organic products Hirshberg says, “But nobody can challenge that sale of another million dollars to Walmart helps to save the world”. The deceptive technique of popularity has the following conditions: “1. Someone claims or implies that a proposition is true or credible and offers as support that it is widely accepted…2. In the circumstances, the popularity or unpopularity of the proposition is not an adequate reason for accepting or rejecting it” (Johnson and Blair 178). By saying that his statement of Walmart helping to save the world is unchallengeable, Hirshberg is suggesting that this is a widely accepted belief. Although Hirshberg does give some evidence of how organic products do not use pesticides etc. which is better for the environment, without any quantitative data of how this sale is positively impacting the environment his claim is not