Salt Sugar Fat By Michael Moss Analysis

A trip to Georgia, the grocery shop, and the Washington hotel were the key events that drove Michael Moss’s motivation to educate the media on the food industry with his bestseller, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. In his work, Moss attempts to simulate the impact the events had on him so that readers can make their own food changes and think differently from the fabricated information food industries give off. His simulation consists of a mixture of cold hard facts and rhetorical writing about salt, sugar and fat that persuades readers with elements of ethos, logos, and pathos. Without even opening the book, readers acquire a sense of trust for the authors and contributors of this work. With positive recognition from the …show more content…
One of the major companies he lashes on includes Coca-Cola. He discusses the nation’s obliviousness to coke’s nutritional facts by including literal facts and demographics to criticize the company. By noting that a coke bottle contains “fifteen teaspoons of sugar”, the readers become aware of such an unhealthy product and some may already want to take stand against the company (Moss 99). This motivation to deplore Coca-Cola further strengthens with statistical knowledge of the company’s success. “Sales more than quadrupled from 1980 to 1997 from $4 billion to $18 billion, so by 1997 Americans were drinking 54 gallons of soda a year” (Moss 109). Readers notice the detrimental impact to the nation’s health and are more open to join Moss’ lash on the company, making his argument compelling and impactful on …show more content…
Moss frequently links Cargill’s salt to high blood pressure and heart disease in the American population. When readers learn of the link between the two, guilt and regret pervade their brains, wishing they didn’t support the product or at least took a stand against the industry. The guilt further rises when Moss includes the conditions the public goes through due to the industry’s manipulation and portrayal of salt. “If people go only part of the way, by reducing intake of salt, this alone would prevent 92,000 heart attacks, 59,000 strokes, and 81,000 deaths” (Moss 291). Moss furthers the guilt by now bringing infuriation into his crowd; readers now see salt as a silent killer wreaking havoc among the American land. Describing the food as “an early death” consumers refute the company due to a triggered emotional state of guilt, making Moss successful in arguing his point (Moss 306). He conveys a similar argument about the salt content with Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, and Tropicana, making Moss a successful wielder of persuasion through