Free
by Jeff
Image text: Asbestos is bad; definitely get the one on the right. Wait -- this one over here has no swine flu! Now I can't decide.
Explain XKCD is now 100% fat free!
This comic is a joke on how every food is attached with a label that says what it doesn't have (even and especially if there was no chance the food contained that type of item anyway).
One such offender is the label "99% fat free" on sugar products. Diet Blog has this to say:
99% fat free has to be one of the most idiotic labels known to mankind - particularly when applied to a carbohydrate food. Just this morning I was reading a "healthy food guide" I picked up from the supermarket. It turned out to be an advertising feature. One product featured was jasmine rice - claiming that it was "99% fat free".
The fat-free labels prey on a basic fear of fat. In the consumers mind, it must be a better choice if it has no fat in it. Manufacturers have been applying the fat free label to candies - many of which are nothing but straight sugar.
October 15th, 2009
Actually, I think it would be more analogous to the labels on chicken that say “hormone free”, as it is illegal to use growth hormones in poultry. Much like we presume it would be to include asbestos in ones breakfast cereal.
October 29th, 2009
I think, too, that it’s stating your product doesn’t contain something that no other does either, but by implication of clarification you leave the others looking bad.
November 10th, 2009
this was an smbc-comic