Industry Tactics
Posted on Tuesday, October 29th, 2013 by Michele Simon
New report from Eat Drink Politics exposes McDonald’s charitable activity as a marketing tool to deflect critics
Pop quiz: Who do you think funds the hundreds of Ronald McDonald Houses around the nation? McDonald’s right? Sort of, but not really. While McDonald’s gets 100 percent of the brand benefit from Ronald McDonald House Charities, the burger giant only provides about 20 percent of its funding globally. At the local level, it’s closer to ten percent, with some of that money coming from donation boxes at McDonald’s outlets, that is, from customers.
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Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children, Public Health | Tagged: child nutrition, childhood obesity, marketing, marketing practices, McDonald's, targeted marketing | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (34) |
Posted on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013 by Michele Simon
“This is the largest amount of money ever concealed in an election,” says Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, as tobacco-style tactics by likes of PepsiCo and Nestle are revealed in Washington State’s lawsuit against the Grocery Manufacturers Association over GMO labeling fight.
Just a few weeks ago, attorneys for the No on 522 campaign were feeling rather smug when a lawsuit filed against them by a group called “Moms for Labeling” was dismissed. As I wrote last week, consumer class action attorney Knoll Lowney sued the No on 522 and the Washington DC-based Grocery Manufactures Association (lobbyists for major food corporations) for not disclosing the donors behind GMA’s $7 million-plus donation to stop I-522, which would require genetically-engineered foods to be labeled. The judge threw out that case on a technicality.
But then, Big Food’s arrogance got the best of them.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Food Safety, Industry Tactics | Tagged: Big Food, California Prop 37, Coca-Cola, GMO labeling, GMOs, Grocery Manufacturers Association, I-522, junk food, PepsiCo | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (10) |
Posted on Monday, October 7th, 2013 by Michele Simon
McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson, former President Bill Clinton, and Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Dr. Howell Wechsler.
The headlines certainly sounded impressive: “McDonald’s to Scrap Soda From ‘Happy Meal’ Ads” and “McDonald’s Ditches Soda In Happy Meal Menus.” In a grandiose announcement from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (an offshoot of the Clinton Foundation), McDonald’s proved once again that it’s not only the world’s fast-food leader, but also the king of spin. This time, Bill Clinton himself was on hand for the nifty photo op with McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting. Despite the seal of approval from the (mostly vegan) former president, I’ve learned to approach these sorts promises from McDonald’s with skepticism.
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Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children, Public Health | Tagged: CFBAI, child nutrition, childhood obesity, Coca-Cola, Corporate Accountability International, McDonald's, public relations, voluntary self-regulation | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (4) |
Posted on Monday, October 7th, 2013 by Michele Simon
With each attempt to pass the 2012 farm bill (yes, it has been that long), congressional Republicans keep ratcheting up their cruelty to poor Americans. While last year’s bill would have cut $16 billion to food stamps, the House of Representatives has now proposed an astonishing $39 billion reduction in benefits over 10 years. While many media pundits are outraged, and rightly so, missing from the national conversation are important questions about the effectiveness of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the federal food assistance plan formerly known as food stamps. Read rest at Al Jazeera America …
Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Industry Tactics, Public Health | Tagged: child nutrition, food stamps, nutrition, SNAP, USDA, Walmart | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0) |
Posted on Wednesday, September 25th, 2013 by Michele Simon
Confused by the exemptions in Washington State’s 522? Here is why they make sense.
Lobbyists for leading pesticide and junk food companies aren’t very creative, at least when it comes to fighting labels on genetically-engineered foods. The current effort Washington State against labeling is looking strikingly similar to last year’s in California. The No on 522 campaign even recycled the colors in their logo. (See No on 522 v. No on 37.) In another illustration of déjà vu, the opposition in Washington State is trotting out the argument that voters should reject the measure because it contains a few exemptions.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Law, Food Policy, Food Safety, Industry Tactics | Tagged: California Prop 37, GMO labeling, GMOs, I-522, Monsanto | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (3) |
Posted on Tuesday, September 17th, 2013 by Michele Simon
Nation’s largest food makers’ trade group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, is donating big money to oppose I-522, but on whose behalf?
Even if you haven’t heard of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, you know its members: the nation’s largest food makers, those with the most at stake in the battle over GE food labeling, including soft drink and snack giant PepsiCo, cereal makers Kellogg and General Mills, and of course, biotech behemoth Monsanto.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Food Safety, Industry Tactics | Tagged: biotech, California Prop 37, GMO labeling, GMOs, Grocery Manufacturers Association, I-522, lobbying, Monsanto | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (6) |
Posted on Thursday, August 22nd, 2013 by Michele Simon
Last month, as USA Today described it, “Taco Bell will shock the fast-food industry on Tuesday by announcing plans to drop kids meals and toys at all of its U.S. restaurants.” CEO Greg Creed told the paper: “The future of Taco Bell is not about kids meals. This is about positioning the brand for Millennials.” Some were skeptical about the announcement, given that kids meals only represent half of one percent of Taco Bell’s overall sales. While increasing pressures on the fast food industry to stop marketing to children wasn’t the main reason for the change, it’s still a significant development.
Read rest at Corporate Accountability International.
Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Food Policy, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children | Tagged: Big Food, child nutrition, McDonald's | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0) |
Posted on Wednesday, August 7th, 2013 by Michele Simon
While the food movement has been gaining steam in recent years, tangible policy wins have been sparse due to by powerful industry lobbying. One significant victory that appears within reach is the labeling of genetically engineered foods. The narrow loss last fall of Proposition 37 in California has inspired 26 other states to propose similar measures, including Washington, the only state with a ballot measure in November’s election.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Industry Tactics | Tagged: Big Food, California Prop 37, FDA, food safety, GMO labeling, GMOs, I-522, Monsanto | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (22) |
Posted on Sunday, July 28th, 2013 by Michele Simon
In January, I released a report called, And Now a Word from Our Sponsors: Are America’s Nutrition Professionals in the Pocket of Big Food? The report continues to receive media attention, in part due to a Change.org petition asking the Academy to clean up its act. Be sure to sign on. Also, please support Dietitians for Professional Integrity, a new group of dedicated registered dietitians working to change the Academy’s sponsorship policies.
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Posted in Big Food, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children, Public Health | Tagged: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Big Food, co-opting science, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, PepsiCo, trade groups | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (1) |
I am pleased to see so many media outlets take an interest in my recent report, produced in collaboration with Corporate Accountability International and the Small Planet Fund. Below is a round-up of the coverage so far.
