Foo - Child pornography bigger than snack food!

I was watching Anderson Cooper last night because they did a segment on Rays MTB park, and they reported that recently a large child porn ring got busted. After the segement aired, I was watching Modern Marvels on the History channel, and they were talking about snack food. CNN reported that child porn is a $12 billion a year industry, while snack food is an $8 billion a year. Kind of interesting, I guess.

Eat more Cheetos!

Snack food is only $8 billion? Wow, I thought us Americans were fatter than that!

Ever since I switched to Clif Bars the snack food industry hasn't been the same.

CNN reported that child porn is a $12 billion a year industry

anyone know how they're measuring that?

CNN reported that child porn is a $12 billion a year industry

anyone know how they're measuring that?

Checked Cooper Anderson's credit card records then extrapolated?

I can imagine porn as being a 12 billion dollar industry, but child porn alone? does anyone else see that as a pretty big number

Is this within the US? I doubt child porn is that big here (god i hope not), that must be a worldwide figure, I've heard its big in russia, se asia, pretty much everywhere else. But who knows; Gary Glitter perhaps?

Snack food is only $8 billion? Wow, I thought us Americans were fatter than that!
:beer: Taerom, you're a smart cookie. :beer:

$8 billion/year, even restricted to the US, means Americans spend less than $30/year per capita on snack food. If we include soft drinks, there are individual product lines that sell far better than that. And even if we only look at snack foods and don't count beverages, that still can't be right.

Let's find some hard data. According to the 2004 annual report of PepsiCo, the company did $29 billion of business in 2004 (generating along the way an operating profit in excess of $5 billion). Of that revenue total, Frito-Lay North America accounts for 33%, or about $10 billion. I'd venture to guess that the vast majority of that $10 billion is in the US. Frito-Lay alone might sell $8 billion/year of products in the US. All Frito-Lay products can be categorized as snack foods.

If we add drinks, 28% of revenue came from the North American beverages operation, and since CocaCola has a lock on the Mexican cola sales, we can safely assume a huge amount of that was in the US. However, a significant minority of these sales are for fruit juices and hard to categorize drinks such as Gatorade. Let's estimate half of the beverages are non-nutritious.

Interestingly, PepsiCo is the leading US convenience food and beverage seller, but only has 22% of the market. So a rough estimate of 2004 US spending on convenience food and beverage sales is, oh, $40 billion, with more going to food than to drink. (Assuming 80% of the $10 billion in North American sales--ex juices and other drinks that are not clearly "convenience food/beverage"--was in the US, and assuming that this total represents 20% of the US market.) Even if I'm off a bit, that's a far cry from $8 billion.

Did you crunch those numbers in your head? :eek:

Also... The US porn industry is widely quoted as being worth $10-14 billion per year. Forbes investigated here (http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/25/0524porn.html) and found that it does no more than $4 billion/year in sales.

Did you crunch those numbers in your head? :eek:
I looked up PepsiCo's 2004 annual report. The numbers were crunched in my head, with reasonable assumptions made (and stated) where appropriate, by caring only about the first sig fig, giving a very approximate but meaningful estimate.

Keep in mind the media's reputation for accurate and thorough reporting...

...doesn't say much there, considering all they do is show whatever it takes to boost ratings, not what it takes to get the real story out.

No way in heck is child porn making more than regular porn...that would imply that there are more pederasts in the world than normal people...or that the pederasts are richer and therefore able to pay for it, but I also doubt that as well.

Well I know of ONE kiddy lover out there who has more money than everyone on bikeforums combined...

Note to self:

Less porn, more snacks.

http://dixielady.com/wet/ch16-2.jpg

I dunno about that one....don't seem possible to me.

I can imagine porn as being a 12 billion dollar industry, but child porn alone? does anyone else see that as a pretty big number

I think they either misquoted or the OP misunderstood. I'm pretty sure the porn industry as a whole is in that neighborhood. A few years ago, I remember hearing a news report that porn was a $9 billion industry. Seems logical after a few years it would be up to $12B now.

I think they either misquoted or the OP misunderstood. I'm pretty sure the porn industry as a whole is in that neighborhood. A few years ago, I remember hearing a news report that porn was a $9 billion industry. Seems logical after a few years it would be up to $12B now.
It is a wild estimate that is totally wrong but widely quoted precisely because it is so shocking. See my Forbes link a few posts up analyzing the numbers.

Note to self:

Less porn, more snacks.

http://dixielady.com/wet/ch16-2.jpg

Delicious, but how does the chocolate wafer frame hold up in crashes. Seems like a recipe for catastrophic failure. ;)

Well I know of ONE kiddy lover out there who has more money than everyone on bikeforums combined...

tell me his name and address! i wish to black mail him! :D

Piffle... you wanna go raid his stash!

no... i'm pretty sure i'd rather have the money... mmmmmmmmm.... imagine all the REAL porn i could buy with it!

Imagine all the porn you could make! :eek:

Someone correct me on this but I believe "child" here means anyone under 18, not just little kids. A lot of them pass for +18 and therefore not only predated by pedophiles. That's why it is a bigger problem than people think and not just in some asian countries where sick rock stars vacation.

Let aside the accuracy of the numbers, I think it is a strange comparison. What are they trying to prove? That we have an obsession with a child obesity problem and ignoring a greater one such as child abuse through pornograhy? Or were they simply trying to establish an element of comparison with something more familiar?

Let aside the accuracy of the numbers, I think it is a strange comparison. What are they trying to prove?
I don't think the OP was trying to prove anything. It was just a shocking observation due to being fed a bunch of fabricated numbers.

If the OP is me (not sure what "OP" is), I was trying to say what I heard, from the horses mouth.

Yup, the original post(er) simply reported what was heard. Too bad there's all sorts of crazy numbers floating around out there with little or no basis in reality.

That is why the media sucks.

Here,Would you like some candy? :o

Mmmyes, i am for stuffing the snack machines in schools with rice cakes & juice. :beer: