Food Labeling: Does It Encourage You To Make Ethical Choices?

Some of you may know about the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and what they are responsible for. The FSA is an independent Government department which was set up in 2000, and their job is to protect the public's health and consumer interests in relation to food.

"The Agency is entitled to make public the advice that it gives to Government ministers. This means that the Agency can be seen to act openly and independently in looking after the interests of consumers"

Due to various complaints and queries that questioned the format in which the FSA labelled food products, certain aspects of the food labeling system in England has been passed on to Defra (the Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs).

FoP (Front of Pack) labeling is one of the issues that has been causing concern for consumers. As you probably know, when you buy a food product there are various different ways that the brand can illustrate the food's nutritional values. Have a look at the pictures below to get a better idea of what I mean:

The image to the left is what is known as "traffic light labeling".
Red= very unhealthy
Amber = its 'ok'
Green = healthy
It was found that this form of labeling in the shape of a wheel sometimes confuses consumers, in the way that it looks like a pie chart. Consumers may think that the nutritional values are equal due to the size of each segment, when in fact this isn't the case at all.

The image to the right shows pastel colour labeling. This could also be misleading because consumers could potentially assume that the intensity of the colours convey similar messages to those of the traffic light system (as shown above), when this is completely untrue.

I personally think that there needs to be a standardized Front of Pack nutritional labeling system in order to avoid any confusion.

Below are a few simple questions which I would really appreciate you answering:

1. Were you aware that it was down to the Food Standards Agency to be responsible for food labeling?
2. What is your preferred style of food labeling? Or does it not really bother you how the nutritional values of a food product are displayed?
3. Would you agree that "traffic light labeling" is the most effective in terms of the red, amber and green colours that are used, but perhaps the shape of a wheel which could portray a pie chart causes confusion?
4. Does the nutritional information on the front of the pack affect your decisions when it comes to actually buying the food?

What about other information? 

I rarely see any information on food packaging which tells you where your food has come from. If your food is "local", is there any factual evidence which tells you where exactly the food has been sourced? If its "seasonal", do we really know that it is in fact seasonal, and that it hasn't been preserved with god knows how many chemicals? 

If you have a spare two minutes (literally two minutes!!) then please click on the link below to answer 10 short questions about the ethics of food labeling. (It would be a major help for one of my assignments) Go on.... you know you want to :)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZPVG2GK

New Years Eve: The Most Over-Rated Day Of The Year

Christmas Eve - Done. Christmas Day - Done. Boxing Day - Done. Too much eating and drinking with the family - Done. Now what?

After all of the hype that leads up to the winter festivities, I can safely say that now that Christmas is over, I have had the most boring two days, EVER. Yesterday was a bank holiday, nothing was open... there was literally nothing to do. And if that's not bad enough, today was exactly the same. If you don't want to head into town and get trampled on by manic shopaholics who are obsessed with the sales (which I definitely do NOT), you will probably find yourself being stuck at home like I am wondering what to do with yourself. So I thought that this would be the perfect time to write a new post. I haven't written one for a couple of weeks and I thought it was about time I spiced up my page with something new. 

It seems like everyone I've spoken to is feeling the same as I am. Everyone's spent just a little bit TOO much time at home with the family and the next best thing that they are looking forward to is new years eve. This year is the first in about 7 years where I am not going out clubbing, and I couldn't think of anything worse to be honest! Everyone who knows me, know's that I love going out and having a good time, but it has finally hit me that new years eve is possibly the most over-rated night of the year. It's made out to be this amazing and fantastic night where everyone celebrates the year that they have had and looks forward to the year ahead, but the truth of the matter is that it is just the same as any other night of the year, and the only difference is that you have to pay 10 times more for entry and drinks than a normal night. In other words, it's just another media - based, money - making scam. Oh, and something always goes wrong because everyone is too drunk to function. So I have decided to avoid this unnecessary drama and go out for dinner and have a more chilled evening instead! Don't get me wrong, I still will be celebrating and having a good time, but my way will be a little more pocket-friendly and I will probably actually remember the night (for once..ahem). 

I can't think of anything else to write so that will be all... I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas and has a great new year too (hopefully I haven't put you off too much with my ranting!). Let me know your thoughts about what I have spoken about - Am I being the ultimate boring student? Or do I actually raise a valid point? I think I definitely do! 

The Shock Of Shisha: Research States It's As Harmful As Cigarettes

I was scanning through google trying to find some research relating to health issues for one of my uni projects, and a link popped up which said "Shisha 'as harmful as cigarettes'.

For those of you who may not have heard of Shisha, it is a water pipe, particularly popular in many Arab countries, in which fruit-scented tobacco is burnt using coal, passed through an ornate water vessel and inhaled through a hose. Although originated in Middle Eastern cultures, it's become more and more popular throughout the UK, particularly in London, Birmingham, and also Manchester. It's known to be a relaxing and social interaction which is becoming increasingly available in many bars, restaurant's and clubs, and most importantly, it has never previously been seen as a danger hazard. 

The Department of Health and the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre has found that smoking a shisha pipe is as bad for people as smoking a cigarette. Below I have listed a few facts which I found really shocking, and thought I would share it with you just so you know more about it and so that you can be careful:

• people who smoke shisha (herbal tobacco) can suffer from high carbon monoxide levels
• one session of smoking shisha resulted in carbon monoxide levels at least 4 - 5 times higher than the amount produced by one cigarette
• high levels of carbon monoxide can lead to brain damage and unconsciousness 
• A non-smoker who smokes shisha = less than 1% of blood not working properly
• A light-smoker who smokes shisha = 2-4% of blood not working properly
• A heavy-smoker who smokes shisha = 5-7% of blood not working properly.

I find it shocking that this research was conducted in 2009, and the amount of publicity and awareness that has been made regarding the subject has been minimal. I mean, this was the first I heard about it and we are now at the end of 2010! Perhaps this is because smoking is something that people just can't stop others from doing. Even if you know how bad smoking is for your health, which every smoker does, it still doesn't stop them doing it, so maybe it was thought that releasing this information at a high-alert level would be pointless. 

Reading this information did make me think twice about smoking shisha, however it's something that I really enjoy and considering that I'm from a Lebanese background myself it's something that I am surrounded by quite often. The bottom line is that it's not going to stop me from doing something which I enjoy.

Do you think that the media does enough to inform the public about health risks such as these? Or do you think that even if these risks were made more publicly aware, would it make a difference?

If you want to read more info about the topic then you can do so here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8214097.stm

Porridge - The Best Breakfast Choice. Would You Agree?

With these cold winter mornings slowly but surely approaching, there's nothing like a good  bowl of porridge to prepare me for my day. I find it really important to make sure that I have breakfast everyday, particularly when I have a long day of uni ahead of me.

For one of my uni assignments I had to look into an award scheme that takes place every year called the CIPR PRide awards. The campaign that I focused on was "Flahavans: Back to porridge!" and it won a Gold Award for consumer relations in Northern Ireland, in 2009.

Without rambling on(i'll try not to anyway!), i'll give you a brief outline of the campaign and what it achieved:

• The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness about how important it is for people to start their day off in a healthy way, and ultimately by eating Flahavan's porridge (Flahavan's is Irelands number 1 oat miller by the way!)
• There were three main platforms that the campaign based itself around. 1. "Flahavans for your well-being" (emphasizing it's health benefits), 2. "Flahavans boosts productivity" (it encourages brainpower and concentration), and 3. "Flahavans is versatile" (it comes in a range of flavors, and allows for many recipes).
• Morrow Communications was the chosen PR company to work with the campaign, and they raised awareness through a handful of tactical actions. Their tactics involved a variety of consumer research where they found out what the main causes of stress were and how these affected their daily routine, for example, if you had breakfast did it mean you were less stressed? They discovered that porridge was in fact the most effective breakfast choice and caused the least amount of stress! A partnership was also formed with Northern Ireland Heart & Stroke Charity where they raised awareness about the importance of porridge and oat-products in your diet, as well as informing people about the major heart and health risks that can occur if you are not eating a healthy diet. They also conducted a "Business Breakfast Challenge" to target those in a business environment, which hoped to result in reducing work place stress. 

The campaign succeeded and raised a lot of talk about healthy diets and how important this issue is. It also encouraged talk about other increasing issues such as obesity and productivity. The campaign gained a lot of press and radio coverage as well as raising a PR value of £137,000, and reaching over 5000 consumers, which proves that what they were doing was effective. 

After discussing the campaign with a group of my classmates it was really interesting to learn the eating habits that some of them possess, and how it affects their daily routines. After asking people what they normally eat for breakfast, I got a few of the normal expected answers such as toast, cereal, fruit, eggs..... all of which, by the way, were claimed to not fill you up enough before lunch time and therefore these people usually result to snacking in the morning. However there were also a few "breakfast foods" which I personally would never have thought of having for breakfast such as sandwiches, and even meat! But it was said that these foods fill you up enough to not want to eat for a while after. 

So what is the right balance? From my research it is clear that porridge is a healthy and filling breakfast choice, but how many of us actually eat it on a regular basis? 

What do you normally have for your breakfast? Does it fill you up? Do you want to snack before lunch? I would be really interested to know how important you think it is to have a healthy breakfast, and if you don't currently eat a healthier breakfast choice, do you think it would make your day any different if you did?

What do you think makes a campaign effective, and do you think that this campaign deserved its gold award and general recognition for what it achieved? Is there anything you can think of that would help raise even more awareness for current health issues?

The Christmas Countdown...!

So i just thought i'd put it out there that i am a massive child, and here is a little piece of information that hopefully will make you as excited as it makes me!

London Firefighter Strike Going Ahead: Completely Ridiculous Or Worth Thinking About??

A few days ago my brother posted a link on his facebook page showing an article from sky news, stating that firefighters were planning to strike next weekend. Not only is next weekend bonfire night, it is also Diwali - the Hindu festival of lights. In other words, the one weekend when there will be more risk of fires starting than ever. Coming from London myself I thought that this was ridiculous, how can firefighters go against their job title on the one weekend where their skills, charisma and determination matter the most? I decided to look into it a bit more today and find out whether this was actually going ahead, as I know that every organisation loves a bit of publicity and they don't always carry things through. Not this time though, as of today, the firefighters are in fact going ahead with the strike.

The reasoning behind the strike is due to a pay rise that the firemen are demanding (£10,000 pay rise). This is due to the fact that they are unhappy with new shift patterns that they have been given. 

This whole thing made me think. Part of me , as i mentioned before, thinks that its completely outrageous that firemen are striking on the one weekend where it would matter more than ever, but the other part of me is thinking that there must be a serious reason behind all of this drama and they wouldn't be doing it for no valuable reason. I can completely see why the fighters have chosen this weekend because it would prove just how much the public rely on and need their services, but is it really worth going to the extent of risking people's lives to prove that point?? 

Increase In University Funds: What Do YOU Think?

I'm sure you are all aware of the recent news that the government are planning to increase the cost of university tuition funds. If you don't know much about the situation, heres a little outline to fill you in :

Lord Browne wants to raise the current cost of tuition fees from £3,290 (what it is now) to £6,000. From what I understand, the cost of tuition fees will rise depending on what university you go to, meaning that the highest ranked universities (Oxford, Cambridge, Durham etc) would be charging an even higher cost of fees. The scary thought is this - even if you don't go to one of the higher ranked universities, you will still be leaving university with a debt of around £30,000!

"Lord Browne says that the proposal is "progressive", but the NUS says it will land graduates with crippling debts" (BBC News 2010). I have to say that I agree 100% with the NUS here! It seems to me that students can never win. We get told that we are being lazy and uneducated if we choose to not go to university and get a degree, and now that more and more teenagers are wanting to complete their education and get a degree in whatever subject they are interested in, the government are doing their best to stop this from happening by raising the funds which they know many people won't be able to afford! I just don't understand the logic behind this at all.

The question that I want to ask is this: If you would still be getting a loan in order to cover the tuition fee rise, would this rise in funding really bother you? Would you worry about having to pay back your debts later in life when you finish university, or would you have more of a "do it now, worry about it later" attitude?

The Media Control My Decisions... True Or False?

Its Monday evening, and yes I know I've already posted about X Factor, and yes I may be SLIGHTLY obsessed with the programme, but after two days of thinking about the results of Saturday's show I just can't get over the fact that certain people are still in the competition (ahem, Cher Lloyd and Katie Waissel). Anyway, it made me think.

All I have seen in the newspaper's in the past week is BAD press about both Cher and Katie. "X Factor: Fury as Katie Waissel upsets Rivals", Cher and Katie "have been heard bitching behind each other's backs" (The Daily Mirror, October 17th 2010). 90 percent of my friends that I have spoken to about the show have agreed with me when I say that Cher and Katie are awful (be it their voices or personality). Although I must say that I prefer Katie as she can actually sing unlike Cher. So I ask myself this: If these girls are getting such negative press, and if the public really have such bad opinions on the girls, then why the hell are they still in the competition if it really is down to the public vote? Is it because the more that people read about them, the more that people have an opinion on them and therefore will keep them in the competition just because of their interest towards them? Is Simon Cowell right when he said "people reading bad things about you is better than not reading anything about you at all" (The Xtra Factor). Is bad publicity better than no publicity?

I think that the Media control our decisions massively. We are surrounded by the media all day every day, sometimes without even realising it. When we listen to the radio in our cars, watch the t.v, browse the internet, go to the cinema, look at adverts... all of these things are sending out messages to billions of people and half of the time we aren't even aware that these messages are being sent. Whether it is about what song you should buy, what food you should eat, what programme you should watch.. the media does its best to plant bits of influential information into our brains and therefore control the way we think (to a certain extent, obviously).

I know that I'm my own person. I have my own thoughts, my own ideas, and have never been one to "follow the crowd" unless I genuinely agree with whatever the situation may be. But in my 21 years of growing up (apart from when I was a little kid and was generally told what to do by my parents!) I have learned that many people aren't the same as me, and they do things just to "be cool" or because it's what other people are doing at the time. I'm not saying that I don't take ANY notice of the media, because at the end of the day if it wasn't relevant to me I wouldn't be on a PR and Communications degree! But I certainly feel that there are too many people in the world who are "controlled" by the media, rather than influenced (like I am sometimes) by it.

Would you say that the media influences you?

Picking Your Products... Do Ethics Matter?

When you go shopping do you think about where your products are coming from and how your products were originally made? As much as I wish I could answer that question as "yes", unfortunately, my answer is no.

I'm a student. When I go clothes shopping I can honestly say that I'm not the fussiest when it comes to thinking about "how it was made". I regularly shop in Primark which is publicly known for it's products not being ethically sourced. As much as I want to say that this affects me, the truth of the matter is that I'm not really bothered considering I'm looking for a bargain and to get lots of clothes for a small amount of money, and thats exactly what Primark offers me. If I had tons of money to spare then maybe I would be a bit more open to buying products which have been ethically sourced, but at this moment I can't exactly be picky - if its cheap, its sold! I'm not in any way saying that I AGREE with what Primark does and the way that their clothes are made, but as I have already said, it doesn't affect me enough to stop shopping there.

However.... when it comes to food, I am a bit more fussy! If I go to the supermarket, the majority of the time I will NOT buy the cheapest meat that is available ("Tesco Value" or "Smart Price" at Asda for example). My reasoning for this has nothing to do with the fact that it's come from a less ethical source or a source that isn't as fresh or what not, it's simply because most of the time it looks disgusting. I'm not sure about anyone else but if I want to buy some chicken breasts for dinner I'm going to pick the slightly more expensive ones that look clean and appealing, rather than the cheapest chicken which has bits of blood and straddely bits (yes i think i made the word "straddely" up!) all over it! Meat is the only thing that I'm fussy about, anything else I'm all for a bargain - why spend more money than necessary just for a brand name?

I think it's safe to say that in an ideal world, EVERYONE would buy clothes and products that were ethically sourced, and in an ideal world maybe products that were not ethically sourced wouldn't even exist .... But in reality, if I'm not being affected by whether something is ethically sourced or not, then why would it make a difference to me?

X Factor Twist.... Will Cheryl Redeem Herself?!

Not long now until the X factor Live starts on ITV1! After all of the comments that were made last week after Cheryl put through two, yes TWO acts that didn't even sing their song properly at the final stage of the audition.

Cher Lloyd (or "Cheryl Cole Wannabe" as I like to call her - shock that Cheryl put her through ey!) and Katie Waissel both got through to the live shows after Cheryl decided that they had both proved themselves worthy of the decision, even though neither of them actually completed their final audition due to poor excuses such as nerves and a sore throat.


There was a huge uproar about the decision considering that acts such as Gamu Nhengu, one of the shows most talented singers if you ask me, did not get chosen to proceed to the live shows.

We all know that there is a big "twist" that will be revealed on the show tonight.... but will Cheryl prove that her choices were in fact the right ones? Or will she continue to disappoint the public by keeping both Cher and Katie in to win? I sure hope not.......

'Carnage'... Has It Gone Too Far?

'Carnage' is one of the most famous themed bar crawls known to university students all over the country. It involves buying one ticket which gets replaced for a t shirt, and by wearing the t shirt each student is entitled free entry into each bar that the 'Carnage' team have teamed up with. Students are then teamed up into various groups and start the bar crawl, staying in each bar for a certain amount of time. In other words, students neck as many cheap drinks as they can and have as much fun as they can before they move on to the next bar, eventually ending in one club with everyone else.

Last year there was a lot of negative attention concerning 'Carnage' after a drunken student urinated on a war memorial during the event.

It was because of this outrageous action that "several universities have banned the company that promotes student pub crawls" (The Daily Mail, 2009). But is it fair to place the entire blame on the company themselves? What about the student himself? Did he not have enough respect and common sense to know that urinating on a war memorial was going to do him no favours at all? (Image taken from The Daily Mail, 2009)

Only last week, another incident occured related to the famous bar crawl. Yep, it was yet ANOTHER student caught on camera urinating on a war memorial, but this time it was a little closer to home - Southampton.

I understand why people may think it appropriate to place the blame on 'Carnage' because I do agree with the thought that it promotes binge drinking and getting far too drunk to function! However, I think that each individual is responsible for their actions. Whose to say that the student who urinated on the war memorial wouldn't have done so on any other ordinary night out when he was just as drunk? I myself have taken part in many 'Carnage' events during my time at university, and i'm not going to lie - myself and my friends end up probably more drunk than we intend to be! But none of us would ever dream of being disrespectful towards war heroes or acting offensive in anyway. I think it is down to individuals themselves, and it's not fair to blame a company who provides a fun and sociable night out for this sort of behaviour.

Binge Drinking : It's A New Craze

Britain is known for its binge drinking culture, particularly at university's all over the country. Not only is it becoming a rising habit for students, it is also becoming increasingly popular throughout many generations of people. We're even lucky enough to have a whole television program dedicated to this issue... "Booze Britain".

There are lots of factors that people forget about when they go out on the lash. For example your health, your skin, or simply acting like a drunken mess and more than likely embarrassing yourself which most people don't seem to care about at the time! (I'm sure many of you can relate to this, even if you don't want to admit it!!)

Iv uploaded a few images below to emphasize the extreme binge drinking that is surrounding our streets more often than most people would like!

The question is, why do people do it?

Heres a few questions to think about.... please let me know your thoughts!

Does it make you feel good?
Do you do it because alcohol is so cheap and available these days?
Does it relax you and make you feel at ease in certain situations?
Do you have a better night when your drunk?
Do you feel under pressure to get drunk because its what everyone else is doing?
Do you prefer the way that you act towards other people when your drunk?
Do you wonder if you ever make a fool out of yourself when binge drinking?
Do you regret the night before the morning after?
Is it worth the hangover!?

Life as a PR student

Hi! I'm a third year PR student and here is a little summary of what that involves..

I wake up at about 9 am, have a shower, sort out what I need to take with me for the day and then head to uni for either 11 am (on a Tuesday) or 10 am (on a Wednesday) when I have my first lecture/seminar. I'm quite lucky as I only have to be in uni for two days every week, but those days are full days and very full on. After my lectures and seminars are over I come home and then usually head to the gym. I find the gym a great way to relieve stress (particularly if I have been at uni for 7 hours straight!), then I come home, have my dinner, and then do one of the following: have a look at mycourse (the uni's online portal which allows students to view lecture/seminar notes, get in contact with tutors etc), put the t.v on and see what's on that night to entertain me, or chill out with my housemates.

Without boring you, I'll tell you a bit about what PR involves - various aspects of communication (internal and external), working with the media (websites, newspapers, magazines etc), social networking (facebook, twitter, youtube)writing press releases, being up to date with the latest news and gossip, plus a whole lot more which I'm not going to bore you with right now! Over the past two years, my course at university has taught me lots of valuable skills and I have learned that it takes a lot more time and detail than I thought to deliver a successful PR campaign.

I was extremely grateful when I landed a three week work placement at the Intercontinental London Park Lane Hotel, Mayfair, earlier this Summer, where I worked in the PR & Marketing department. It was amazing to actually experience real-world PR and discover what goes on behind closed doors. I loved my time at the hotel and I value every minute that I spent there - it really gave me a true insight to what goes on in all areas of PR including writing press releases, social networking, putting together a media coverage report, and being involved with internal projects.

I also did a one month work placement at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair, London, where I worked for EPS (Events Production Services). I had a fantastic time working there and really got a feel for what goes on behind the scenes when putting together huge events. I was lucky enough to be involved in one of the many V.I.P events that take place at the hotel which was a L'Oreal Gala Dinner. There were many important people there and I felt privileged to be a part of such a glamorous and high-profile event at one of London's top hotels.

Copy and paste the links below into your web browser if you want to take a closer look at where I worked at the Intercontinental London Park Lane Hotel and also the Grosvenor House Hotel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMapPC0-iUM&feature=related

http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/longh-grosvenor-house-a-jw-marriott-hotel/

A little bit about me...

So, in order to introduce myself, heres a few answers to a few questions which I think some of you may want to know!

Who Am I?

Well, I'm Natalie Naaman, aged 21, and I am in my final year of studying PR (Public Relations) & Communications at Southampton Solent University. 

I am currently living in Southampton and have been for the past three years. My family home (which i return to quite often!) is in Surrey, and that is where I have grown up since I was born.

What do I like to do?

Apart from PR, my other interests involve shopping, going to the gym, music, and dancing, which I have done as a hobby since I was only 4 years old! 

My friends and family mean everything to me (yes, I know EVERYONE says that, but I do really mean it!) and I spend as much time with them as I can. 

I also love to travel and visit different places, and I am lucky enough to say that I have seen some amazing places in the 21 years of my life...including Dubai, America, Lapland, Lebanon (I'm half Lebanese by the way!) and many European countries too.

Anything else?

I think thats all I have to say about myself, for now anyway! Oh... and one more thing... this is my first blog, so I hope you all like it and find something here that you can relate to! P.s.. feel free to leave comments and feedback... I'm always interested to know your thoughts and opinions on what I have to say :)