Are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Toxic?
by Elizabeth Poppa
A viral Facebook post back in 2017 fired rumors of how unhealthy and detrimental America’s favorite candy was, exposing Reese’s and the three chemicals used in the process of the making of the desired candy. The article states that “ingredients in the popular candy are cause for concern” (3 REASONS WHY…) and are said to be toxic to human health. The article goes into depth regarding the three major ingredients that are apparently causing life-changing results negatively, while making wild claims, such as by eating the candy, you can attain breast cancer and receive fertility issues. Unknowingly, it can strike as a warning to consumers to stop buying the lovable treat for the replacement of withdrawing an inevitable death signed by a contract when eating this candy. Further research debunks this article, and proves to be an exaggerated hyperbole falsely accusing these ingredients to be deadly, and demonstrates another proponent of fake news.
After delving deeper into the story, , it is made clear that the context of the situation was taken out of hand, and exponentially extrapolated to be made serious-sounding. Persuasion rhetorical techniques of logos were used to encourage consumers to stop buying this product by incorporating concrete evidence and ‘research’ to show the detrimental effects of Reese’s to somebody’s health. For instance, it was said within the main claim that “three additives in peanut butter cups, soy lecithin, PGPR, and TBHQ, are inherently dangerous and should be avoided. (Kasprak). Within 2017, the Reese’s corporation overall was getting bad advertising, as social media from non-credible sources were saying that the product was also being discontinued and taken off of the shelves, as seen in this viral facebook post later debunked by BuzzFeed:
This misinformation widely spread over social media, Facebook alone with over 207,000 different shares regarding the link to the article by David Wolfe website (Kasprak). It started to become popular to make at-home recipes of this candy and buy knock-offs as this fake news was spreading, so was the creation of ‘healthier’ versions of the candy, to make sure of what is being put into your body.
The bold claims made by the article were easily debunked with little research. For example, the one ingredient, soy lecithin was mentioned as being detrimental to someone’s health. As mentioned in the fact check by Snopes, “However, the amount of lecithin used in this experiment are multiple orders of magnitude more than any human could reasonably expect to be exposed to, even on a daily basis” (Kasprak). A logical explanation as to why these are widely false is that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides strict guidelines and regulations regarding the chemicals and ingredients that may be used when selling these products, especially on mass scale. It would be highly improbable that these deadly amounts of ingredients would bypass the FDA and into the hands of consumers all around the world. The Wolfe post also explained that the one ingredient, tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), could cause long-term effects in children. It was later discovered that this information is false, as there is no published work on any credible source regarding a peer-reviewed and scientifically proven study of this claim.
In conclusion, it is clear that many phony information is being published onto the internet that can cloud the judgement of others in regards to purchases solely for the purpose of getting clicks on a website. The entertainment of bold claims and illegitimate information is commonly disguised as reliable information.
Works Cited
Kasprak, Alex. “Three Reasons You Should Stop Eating Peanut Butter Cups: A viral post misrepresents the science behind three additives in the popular peanut butter and chocolate treat.” Snopes, 31 March 2017,https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/peanut-butter-cups/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.
Silverman, Craig. “There’s An Outrageous Piece Of Fake News About Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups And I Will Not Stand For It.” BuzzFeed.News, BuzzFeed, 18 Sep. 2017, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/people-are-freaking-out-over-a-fake-story-about-reeses. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.
Smith, Dana Leigh. “10 Best and Worst Things About Peanut Butter Cups.” Eat This,Not That!, Galvanized Media, 29 Sep. 2016, https://www.eatthis.com/best-worst-peanut-butter-cups/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.
“3 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD STOP EATING PEANUT BUTTER CUPS!” David Wolfe, Feb. 2017, https://www.davidwolfe.com/3-reasons-stop-eating-peanut-butter-cups/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.
