Deny, Denounce and Delay
Addiction Economy Thought for Today - ‘Deny, denounce, delay’ a few pull outs from this perfect example of the 3rd and 4th of our 4 Drivers of Addiction Economy - Disinformation and Undermining Policy Action:
Disinformation - all Grant Ennis 9 frames of Disinformation are there!
Let's start with the old favourite - blame us for the problems they directly cause:
"Manufacturers also argue that the harm caused by their products is a result of a lack of personal will power or failure to exercise, says Bath university’s Gilmore, and “nothing to do with industry or its UPF products that overwhelm our internal systems that regulate appetite”.
"In an echo of tactics employed by cigarette companies, the food industry has also attempted to stave off regulation by casting doubt on the research of scientists like Monteiro (the creator of the NOVA classification system of food processing and namer of Ultra-Processed foods).
"Anna Gilmore, co-director of the Centre for 21st Century Public Health at the University of Bath, say the ties with scientists help the industry to “manufacture doubt”, by funding analysis that exonerates companies or suggests the case against them is not proven.
"A 2018 review of studies that criticised Monteiro’s Nova system found that the authors overwhelmingly had connections to the UPF industry."
Undermining Policy Action:
"FT analysis of US lobbying data from non-profit Open Secrets found that food and soft drinks-related companies spent $106mn on lobbying in 2023, almost twice as much as the tobacco and alcohol industries combined. Last year’s spend was 21 per cent higher than in 2020, with the increase driven largely by lobbying relating to food processing as well as sugar."
"Regulatory bodies also have some of these corporate links. A review of conflicts of interest in UK food regulation found that 9 of the 15 members of the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition had received funding from the UPF industry.
"In 2023, PepsiCo spent millions of dollars lobbying the US government. According to one disclosure from last July, the Doritos and Tostitos maker spent $1.27mn on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) purchasing restrictions, the upcoming dietary guidelines, sweeteners and food labelling, among other issues."
Lots of the usual contortions from the food industry “trying to bring rationality to the debate”. It seems supremely rational to us to prevent companies producing intensely harmful foods which are killing or ruining the quality of life of millions. It is definitely irrational to think that this commercial strategy is in any way OK.
Here is a gift link for three clicks
https://on.ft.com/4517mtm
Here is our article Joe and I launched at the International Consensus Conference on UPF launched on Friday - 10 lessons for UPF Campaigners from The Addiction Economy:
https://lnkd.in/ePAQp3yv