More on Resolutions

Last time I recommended overcoming fear of the stock market and investing all the money that's basically thrown away on lottery tickets, because they are statistically a terrible deal, and on most nutritional supplements, because those that are not outright dangerous are usually ineffective.  The money saved and invested could easily reduce anxiety over future education and retirement costs (or even car repairs).  By thinking in terms of wants vs. needs individuals can easily come up with other sources of cash to set aside.  This is perspective, critical thinking and discipline rolled into one set of beneficial behaviors.

Now it’s time for the other side of the coin, a subject for a silly resolution motivated by hype and celebrity endorsements.  I refer to skinny wine.  As thedrinksbusiness.com puts it, “With around 20% of Americans on a diet, low-calorie wine brands are booming in the US, and particularly where celebrities are involved.”  The article was from 2013, but the subject seems to come up around this time every year.

Top brands include skinnygirl, introduced by chef, author and TV star Bethenny Frankel and then sold to Fortune Brands/Beam for $8.1 million, and The Skinny Vine promoted by Christine Avanti, celebrity nutritionist and author.  Since most dry wine has little sugar, these brands cut calories by reducing the alcohol content.  They contain 100 and 95 calories compared to 112 for a regular glass of wine for a savings per glass of 12 to 17 calories.

If true, that’s not much of a reduction.  One fruit and nut granola bar, which many people consider healthy eating, contains 140 calories.  Break it in half, in half again and in half again.  That little piece, one eighth of a granola bar still has more calories than you are saving by buying skinny wine.  Another site pins their high sales on customers being “duped into thinking the calorie count is significantly [less] merely because it is prominently posted on the label.  Actually it is “no less caloric than other wines” with the same percent alcohol by volume.  [Emphasis is in the original.]  They go on to recommend drinking regular wine in moderation.  That's not rocket science.

Huffington Post makes a few more good points beyond the issue of calories, asking why the ads for these brands are directed at women.  “Would anyone make a Skinnyboy wine?  I don’t think so.  Why do we need a special wine brand, especially when the calorie savings are [modest]?  According to most recommendations, women should not drink more than one glass of wine a day.”  The rant goes on, accusing these wines of working against equality by implying women need wines of their own as they are not capable of wisely choosing from a wine list without some not very subtle guidance.

Calories in a bottle of wine vary based primarily on alcohol content (about eight and a half calories for each 1% alcohol) and the sugar content (for sweeter wines).  Some French and German wines naturally have fewer calories.  But if a New Year’s resolution is to lose a few pounds, the answer will not be found in the wine section.  That fact does not keep the marketing machines of the various companies from trying to dupe their customers into another supposedly easy answer to the challenging problem of weight loss. 

For wine and so many other products the pattern is the same, some combination of hype, celebrity endorsement, Internet buzz, misleading information, junk science, and trigger words.  And we fall for it every time.