There is a common misconception that every successful company looks out for the best interests of their customers/clients. This may be true for some companies, but in reality, many could care less about their consumers. Just like the tobacco companies, the food industry has no ethical standards when it comes to serving the consumers who built and support their company. The relationship between consumers and the food industry is that of a completely unbalanced scale. Consumers continue to feed the food industry while the food industry takes advantage of them, and make profits for themselves especially our capitalist capital the United States. .
Steven Johnson, in his essay, "Listening to Feedback," delves into the topic of how positive and negative feedback plays a role in our society. The food industry has gone unchecked for too long. For this type of unjust to cease, the food industry needs to be remind that consumers are the ones that hold the power. Consumers must change this negative feedback into a positive one. The only way that the food industry will listen is that consumers must demand change, and more regulations on the food industry.
The food industry continues to push the notion that it regulates itself, that it has standards that it follows, and it is completely on the side of its consumers. My rebuttal to this would be, the banks did an excellent job at regulating itself don't you think. Self-regulation doesn't work especially for these greedy, dollar signs in their eyes corporations. Obviously this system is not working for the consumers and must change. Johnson stated that, "When we come across a system that doesn't work well, there's no point in denouncing the use of feedback itself. Better to figure out the specific rules of the system at hand and start thinking of ways to wire it so that the feedback routines promote the values we want promoted" (Johnson 210).
