Is Whole Foods Ripping People Off with Their Marketing?
Patricia Walling*
These days everyone wants to eat healthier. Whether your doctor has advised you that natural foods like whole grains and organic vegetables are better for you or you have simply discovered this on your own, making smart decisions when buying food can provide you with numerous benefits. Luckily, there are some great resources out there that can help you find organic fresh food and get the products you want to improve their health. However, there are some stores that do not measure up to the national standards for organic foods and obtain their products from sources that are not proven to be organic and sometimes not even fresh. In the health food market, you have to be careful about when purchasing products labeled as “fresh” and “organic,” since oftentimes they may not be as fresh and organic as they seem.
While some grocery retailers will divulge exactly where their foods come from, conforming to national organic standards (as well as exceeding them) in order to earn the trust and repeated business of their customers, others are a bit more under-handed. For instance, Whole Foods has recently been under scrutiny by many consumers, such as those who are in such health related professions like medical billing and coding, and national organizations for their marketing practices and the products they sell. While the popular grocery chain advertises that they have completely organic and natural products for sale, it is not clear if these claims are entirely accurate.
In fact, there are several groups that claim not all of the products found at Whole Foods are organic. Just to make sure everyone is clear on what organic means, the USDA defines <a href=“http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/ofp/ofp.shtml”> organic food </a> as a product that is never sprayed with chemicals or grown in an area where chemicals that increase growth, prevent plant or animal disease or prevent any insect infestation are present. Similarly, the plant life fed to animals must adhere to the same standards.
These opponents to Whole Foods also claim that chemicals are used in the product growth, negating the idea of organic products altogether. Even if the food or animals are organically grown, <a href=“http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/forbes021105.cfm”> the packaging and advertisement costs are passed on to the customer </a>. Likewise, there are some “natural” products that are not widely available, so Whole Foods takes advantage of this market and strives to provide usual or unique products. The problem is that some of these items are imported from sources that may not use organic and natural processes when creating the product.
Despite this, Whole Foods boasts accessibility to “natural and organic foods” to keep you healthy. The company has even created a major marketing campaign in order to boost their sales, <a href=“http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/quality-standards.php”> stating exactly what the consumer wants to hear. Yet do they deliver what people are expecting in their products? As previously mentioned, some foods are not really organic or natural in their growth, although they may be considered Kosher in some religions due to the way they are processed. This leads to the question –does the company know the difference, and more importantly, does the consumer know the difference as well?
If the company is aware of these differences, than they are knowingly deceiving customers to believe that they are purchasing completely organic and natural products. If they are not aware, perhaps they should do more research into where their products are produced. Consumers should always be wary and aware of the when purchasing food, and shopping at a so-called health food store is no exception. Usually, a product’s label will tell you where the product was manufactured or packed, but at some times the seller will replace these labels with their own on order to advertise their own name. This makes shopping difficult for the consumer and is almost equivalent to buying generic, as you can never be sure of where the original product was actually produced.
All of us know that advertising is what draws consumers to a business. However if the advertising is deceptive, consumers will quickly quit patronizing the business if they feel as though they of being taken advantage of through the means of false advertising. So does Whole Food, Inc. use these methods?
A search of the Better Business Bureau did not return any complaints, which may mean that some people were able to find the unique items they desired and were satisfied with their purchases. Yet it is also possible that some customers were reluctant to register a complaint, or they did not know whether the products they purchased were truly organic or chemically enhanced. Whole Foods has had its up and downs in this arena, since there is a fine line between organic and chemically enhanced. Chemically enhanced can mean anything, from something as more significant such as using a spray for predatory insects or more minor such as using a fertilizer for growth. So is Whole Foods at fault for selling these products? It cannot be determined, since most companies are not aware of the products used (or not used) in the production of the items they sell.
However, it should be noted that a company should not advertise claims they cannot back up with pure facts. For example, if the company knows that an insect spray has been used on a product they sell, it should not be advertised as organic or natural. Whole Foods should not deceive the public with claims that lead us all to think we have the foods that we would grow ourselves if we had the means to do it. After all, we are not totally ignorant of marketing practices or the lengths businesses will go to in order to make a sale.
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*Patricia Walling is a web content designer for several health care related sites in Washington, and self-identifies as a perpetual student of medicine. Most of the time she can be found researching anything and everything related to the field.
