Soda companies' PR campaigns are bad for health

[Paul Murphy]

Soda companies' PR campaigns are bad for health

Health advocates need to organize strong public health campaigns to educate the public and policymakers about the dangers of both sugary beverages and the misleading industry corporate social responsibility campaigns that distract from their products' health risks, according to US experts writing in this week's PLoS Medicine.

In a Policy Forum article, the authors (media and public health experts from the Berkeley and Boston, USA) examined prominent campaigns from industry leaders PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, that, according to the authors, have embraced corporate social responsibility (CSR) with elaborate, expensive, and multinational campaigns.

The authors say that while soda companies may not face the level of social stigmatization or regulatory pressure that now confronts Big Tobacco, concern over soda and the obesity epidemic is growing. In response to health concerns about their products, the authors argue that soda companies have launched comprehensive CSR initiatives sooner than did tobacco companies but that these campaigns echo the tobacco industry's use of CSR as a means to focus responsibility on consumers rather than the corporation, bolster the companies' and products' popularity, and to prevent regulation.

However, unlike tobacco CSR campaigns, soda company CSR campaigns explicitly target young people and aim to increase sales.

The authors say: "It is clear that the soda CSR campaigns reinforce the idea that obesity is caused by customers' "bad" behavior, diverting attention from soda's contribution to rising obesity rates."

They continue: "For example, CSR campaigns that include the construction and upgrading of parks for youth who are at risk for diet-related illnesses keep the focus on physical activity, rather than on unhealthful foods and drinks. Such tactics redirect the responsibility for health outcomes from corporations onto its consumers, and externalize the negative effects of increased obesity to the public."

The authors argue: "Emerging science on the addictiveness of sugar, especially when combined with the known addictive properties of caffeine found in many sugary beverages, should further heighten awareness of the product's public health threat similar to the understanding about the addictiveness of tobacco products."

They conclude: "Public health advocates must continue to monitor the CSR activities of soda companies, and remind the public and policymakers that, similar to Big Tobacco, soda industry CSR aims to position the companies, and their products, as socially acceptable rather than contributing to a social ill."
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This article is one in a PLoS Medicine series on Big Food that examines the activities and influence of the food and beverage industry in the health arena. The series runs for three weeks beginning 19 June 2012 and all articles will be collected at www.ploscollections.org/bigfood (the link will become live once the embargo lifts). Twitter hashtag #plosmedbigfood

Funding: This research was supported by the Healthy Eating Research program (http://www.healthyeatingresearch.org/) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (http://www.rwjf.org/), grant #68240. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation: Dorfman L, Cheyne A, Friedman LC, Wadud A, Gottlieb M (2012) Soda and Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns: How Do They Compare? PLoS Med 9(6): e1001241. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001241

CONTACT:
Andrew Cheyne
Berkeley Media Studies Group
Berkeley
California
United States of America
[e-mail]

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[Paul Murphy]

[Paul Murphy]

Thank you for your e-mail to the Ministry Of Health and Long-Term Care regarding childhood obesity.

The government is working hard to promote healthy living. Obesity in childhood can lead to many health effects later in life such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Because the costs associated with these chronic diseases are significant on both the health of Ontarians and our health care system, the ministry is acting now to reduce childhood obesity in Ontario.

Success on this issue will require partnerships. As a result, the Healthy Kids Panel made up of experts including health care leaders, non-profit organizations and industry, has been set up to help reach the goal of reducing childhood obesity by 20 per cent over five years. The panel of experts will report back to the Honourable Deb Matthews, Minister, later this year with its first recommendations.

Both healthy eating and tobacco use are modifiable risk factors that have been strongly associated with the most common chronic diseases. The ministry is taking action to address both of these risk factors to improve and protect the health of Ontarians.

With respect to trauma teams in youth custody settings, this issue may more appropriately be addressed to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, if you haven’t done so already.

I hope this is helpful.

Sincerely,

Correspondence Services