2009-11-29
Explanation
This comic highlights the double standard people have when evaluating chemical ingredients in processed food versus vitamin-enhanced drinks. The top panel, labeled "When People Look at Processed Food," shows a couple examining a product (like a tub of butter) with disgust, reading off ingredients like "Pyroxidine? Ergocalciferol? How many ingredients do you need in butter?" The bottom panel, labeled "When People Look at Vitamin Drinks," shows the same couple looking at a vitamin drink bottle with excitement, saying "Wow! It's got Ergocalciferol!"
The joke is that "ergocalciferol" is simply the scientific name for Vitamin D2 -- the exact same chemical is viewed with suspicion when it appears on processed food labels but celebrated when it shows up in a vitamin drink. The comic satirizes the chemophobia and inconsistent reasoning many people apply to food labeling. People are often alarmed by long chemical names on ingredient lists without realizing that vitamins, minerals, and perfectly natural substances all have intimidating scientific names. The same compound is "scary" in one context and a selling point in another, based purely on the framing and marketing of the product.
The votey panel drives the point home with a bottle labeled "Vita-Water" whose ingredients list reads: "Contains: Improbable Claims, Sugar!" This is a direct jab at vitamin water and similar enhanced beverage products, suggesting that their real contents are mostly just sugar and dubious health claims rather than meaningful nutritional benefits.