Yesterday, presidential candidate Joe Lieberman announced his intention to engage in dietary social engineering, including misguided menu labeling mandates and warnings on commercials that promote certain foods. One British columnist comes down on the other side of the issue. He writes that “consumers should take responsibility for their buying habits and stop blaming advertising for their mistakes.” Excerpts from the rest of his column give us the quote of the week:
No advert makes anyone eat at McDonald’s five times a week; no brewer forces beer drinkers to embark on their 15th or 16th can. Remember the woman driver who held a hot cup of coffee between her legs as she drove and then sued McDonald’s for making the coffee too hot when it spilled? As so often in American society the law is being used as a lazy refuge from personal responsibility. Inevitably there are now lawyers who specialise in this type of action.
