First, I’ll just admit to being a fool for marketing. I love all of it, from the mechanics to the mass psychosis a successful campaign can achieve. But, perhaps humorously so, I like to think of myself as cynical regarding sales. For instance, I can usually tell when someone’s trying to sell me something… and it doesn’t have to be a product or service.

But sometimes, without looking, I tumble into the deep end of the pool. That’s the way it happened with Activia. I love the way they targeted IBS sufferers. And Jamie Lee Curtis; how I fell for that commercial. Oh, the product contains probiotics and it works. But so do a lot of other, healthier yogurts. Organic yogurts without a ton of sugar.

I had already made up my mind to switch brands when I happened to read the word ‘carmine’ on the label. And when I did an internet search… well, to put it simply, carmine is bug juice.

Carmine is a colored pigment extracted from the female insect Coccus cacti or Dactylopius coccus, or their eggs. The insects live on prickly pear cactus in Mexico. The Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés brought the dye to Europe after seeing the Aztecs use it.

Because carmine comes from insects, some other color must be used if a product is to be labeled kosher.

It takes over a million of the insects to make a pound of dye. The insects are harvested when the females are about to lay eggs, at which time they turn a bright red color. The shells of the female insects are dried, then the color is dissolved in a solvent, and all of the insect parts are filtered out.

Carmine (or cochineal) is used as a food coloring, in cosmetics, and in paints.

I’ll be happy to paint with it, but as for eating it? I don’t think so…