Washington DC — Immediately after the New York City Board of Health announced its proposal to unilaterally ban trans fat from all of the city’s food service outlets, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) responded on behalf of all hungry New Yorkers by telling the food police to “back off” in a national television ad.
The ad, titled “Smash,” begins airing today and will run throughout the week on CNN and the Fox News Channel. The commercial starts with a young boy enjoying an ice cream cone, only to have it ripped from his hands. The script reads:
Everywhere you turn, someone’s telling us what we can’t eat. It’s getting harder just to enjoy a beer on a night out. Do you always feel like you are being told what to do? Find out who is driving the Food Police at ConsumerFreedom.com.
“The New York City Board of Health has gone too far with this proposal,” said CCF senior analyst J. Justin Wilson. “Trans fats may not be good for you—just like too many calories or too much butter isn’t good for you—but foods that contain trans fat aren’t unsafe. The Board of Health has mischaracterized trans fat as a food safety problem so they can interfere with New York restaurant menus.”
Wilson continued: “Activist groups and overzealous politicians have politicized food to the point where the government is actually telling businesses what they can serve and telling consumers what they can enjoy. If there’s E. coli in my spinach, I’ll thank the Board of Health to intervene. Otherwise, please keep your laws off my food.”
To view “Smash,” visit www.ConsumerFreedom.com. For media comment, contact our media department at 202-463-7112 ext. 133