A bit of background history...
After WWI, America became increasingly diet-conscious and by the 1940s, the sugar industry felt it was unjustly under attack by "faddists" who advocated a reduction of sugar from the American diet. In an attempt to combat the increasingly bad opinions of sugar, the industry actively decided to "inform the public on the merits of sugar, its value, function, and place in the diet..." (For further reading, check out this shocking 1942 internal document from the Organization of Sugar Research Foundation.)