While many city shoppers were clearly drawn to the notion of buying and eating foods associated with nature, the nature claimed by the ads was no longer the nature that created the foods. Indeed, the nature claimed by many ads was associated with food products only by the ads’ attachment. This is clearly a case of what French sociologist Henri Lefebvre has called “the decline of the referentials,” or the tendency of words under the influence of capitalism to become separated from meaningful associations. Increasingly, food ads helped shoppers become accustomed to new definitions of words such as “fresh” and “natural,” definitions that could well be considered opposite of their traditional meanings. The new definitions better served the needs of the emerging industrial food system, which could not supply foods that matched customary meanings and expectations. And they better met shoppers’ desires, although with pretense.