Stumble It!
The REAL Pepsi Challenge: Diabetes
Isn’t it ironic that the multi-million-dollar companies that are most ‘part of the problem’ like to pretend that they’re ‘part of the solution’?
That’s all I could think of when learning about Pepsi’s big social-media-based “goodwill campaign” surrounding the SuperBowl this weekend. The company hopes to wow the country by relinquishing those coveted SuperBowl TV ad spots — reported to cost about $3 million this year — and vowing to spend the money on public grants for good works instead.
At the campaign website, refresheverything.com, people can submit and then vote on favorite ideas for initiatives in health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. Pepsi will offer up to 32 grants in amounts of $5,000 to $250,000.
Sounds good. But the irony runs deep.
Pepsi Co. has poured a ton of money and effort into positioning itself as a catalyst for healthier living, to be sure. See their Human Sustainability and Healthy Weight Commitment campaigns.
But who are they kidding, really?
Caption reads: "This is what I think whenever I see one of the new Pepsi ads" (cartoon by Lawrence Yang)
This is a company that in 2008, generated over $40 billion in revenue from snack foods and beverages, the bulk of which are “empty calories.” Their product portfolio reads like a roster of the nutritionally inept “snacks” (with the word “food” being the questionable term) that has made America fat: sugary drinks including Pepsi itself, Mountain Dew and Gatorade (one of the most-abused beverages, with 30g carb, 29.5 of them sugar, per 8 oz. bottle of orange flavor) — along with Fritos, Cheetos, Doritos, Tostitos, and supposedly alternative brands like Izze fruit drinks, which parade as natural, healthy options, but are in fact pure sugar.
To boost their health-promoting image, Pepsi Co. even launched a new nutritional research lab at Yale University in December. They’re certainly knocking themselves out to look like they’re part of the solution. Now stop for a moment to think why…
Bingo! You got it! Because they’re a MAJOR offender in stuffing America full of salt, fat, and sugar. That’s what their products are: fat-makers, devoid of any real nutritional value.
Their various campaign websites talk a lot about “whole grains, fiber, fruit, vegetables, key vitamins and minerals”… But THAT’S not what they’re feeding this country, is it now?
While Pepsi pours money into all these goodie-two-shoes prevention campaigns, I pose this challenge: Just what is Pepsi Co. doing about the 21 million Americans who already have diabetes?
That of course includes the rising rates of Type 2 diabetes in children, where companies like Pepsi do their most heinous pandering…
I say we challenge them to pay for FREE DIABETES EDUCATION all across the country. Every person diagnosed should have access to no-nonsense coaching on BG management and nutrition, up to eight sessions per year.
This was the proposal I wanted to submit to Pepsi’s SuperBowl “Refresh” campaign, but the site is currently closed for entries (?), slated to re-open on March 1.
Browsing the Health category, I saw a few mentions of obesity and providing healthcare coverage for the uninsured, but nothing specific to diabetes.
I say: Step it up, Pepsi. As Oprah was just trumpeting last week, diabetes is dangerously on the rise, and you are unmistakably part of the problem!
Thanks for this article. I agree 100 percent. I think that they are campaining towards a certain image but, the reality is they can’t even take the first step towards making their products a little safer-which I believe would be replacing high fructose corn syrup in their products with a different sugar source. High fructose corn syrup is being targeted by scientists and doctors as a “poison” and they are saying it causes obesity. This is really frightening when you think about how they want their sales to rise. I think Pepsi needs to be more responsible and everyone else-we need to boycott them and then they WOULD change. We, have a lot of the power here.
Posted by: Sysy Morales | February 8th, 2010 at 6:54 amGreat post Amy. Love your idea. Hopefully you can submit it and they take notice.
Posted by: Crystal | February 8th, 2010 at 9:08 amSing it girl!
You can donate all the $$ you want, but it’s hard to forget this TIME article from 2004 (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,995040,00.html) that says:
“A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who regularly drank sugar-sweetened soda or fruit punch gained significantly more weight and had a greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than women who rarely indulged in high-sugar drinks… The frequent soda sippers, who downed more than one sugary beverage a day, also tended to exercise less, smoke more, weigh more and eat more, but when researchers adjusted for such unhealthy factors, these women still showed a 40% greater risk for developing diabetes than did women who had fewer than one sugar-sweetened drink a month.”
It’s hard to spin THAT into a “we’re part of the solution” press release, isn’t it?
And another quote from the study referenced in that TIME piece was this:
“In conclusion, our findings suggest that frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages may be associated with larger weight gain and increased risk of type 2 diabetes, possibly by providing excessive calories and large amounts of rapidly absorbable sugars. Public health strategies to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes should focus on reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.”
This is as silly as tobacco companies and their stop-smoking campaigns. I don’t think anyone buys it.
Posted by: Mike Lawson | February 8th, 2010 at 9:19 amYou hit the nail on the head Amy – unfortunately this is a part of consumerism that has run deep for a very long time. Some other great examples include how McDonald’s sponsors boatloads of events in traditionally low-income, African American populated communities. Being seen as the “only way things are fun in my life” angle, really helps them to cross both lines of profit and generational loyalty.
It’s the same thing here, Pepsi is counting on more people who are NOT tuned into the fact that they are contributing to health problems to clasp their hands together in awe of their philanthropic activities. I’m glad you thought about using their contest to provide diabetes education!
Posted by: Andre Blackman | February 8th, 2010 at 9:24 amHere is my take on this Pepsi Challenge post and comment. We all have choices in our life. We have a choice what to eat. If someone chooses to eat something that is not good for them it is their choice. Pepsi is not forcing people to eat/drink their products. Many so called Natural and Organic labeled products are still full of sugar. Just a different sugar source. Almost any food can cause problems if not eaten in moderation. Look at all the Super size meals offered at fast food restaurants. Also the portion sizes that are given at any restaurant. Do people need education on Nutrition? Of course, and I include myself in that category. I continually try to educate myself more. Parents have a responsibility to educate their children on choices, but not all do. How many people really read the nutritional labels on products or even the ingredients. As you said many products are now marketed as high fiber and good for you and the may only have 1 or 2 grams of fiber and other forms of sugar. How about low fat products that when fat is taken out is replaced with a form of sugar. When will people stop blaming large companies etc. for their bad choices in life and take responsibility for their own actions? Do I feel that Free Diabetes Education would be a good challenge for Pepsi Company, yes I do, but boycotting them no. It will not change things unless people are willing to educate themselves first and then accept responsibility for their own choices in life.
Posted by: A Diabetic | February 8th, 2010 at 10:06 amI found a can of Pepsi in my house yesterday, with ad copy touting, “Made with REAL SUGAR.” So it’s natural and healthy, right? Not that man-made chemical stuff!
People must still be falling for this.
-Steve
Posted by: Steve Parker, M.D. | February 8th, 2010 at 10:49 amSo Pepsi (and every other purveyor of food that’s not nutritional) has three choices: 1) keep selling their crap and use advertising to work really hard to thwart our good choices, 2) go out of business, or 3) sell the crap but also recognize it’s not the best health choice, and pour advertising money into health initiatives.
Seems to me #3 is actually their best, if most ironic, choice.
Posted by: Kassie | February 8th, 2010 at 12:19 pmYes…these companies (Pepsi and Coke being among the worst offenders) are wearing a lot of pancreases out. Every time I walk into a store, it amazes me that the human body can even tolerate that much processed sugar. I’m amazed that we haven’t all dropped dead.
Where does that kind of sugar appear in nature? Who would expect our bodies to be able to adapt in a healthy way to that much glucose in our blood stream?
Posted by: Jim Huck | February 8th, 2010 at 12:28 pmAny form of sugar can be abused. It is just made too easy for people. We have been made to feel we need these products. And oh, they taste good. They dull other flavors in foods so we crave the extreme sugars and fats. And the consumerism continues with products that are made to help you diet. I fall into this. Yes it is all a choice, but the one thing I have found to help is this:
http://www.wholewellnessclub.net/index.cgi?pg=products&pcode=110&tp=0&sess_id=ebe9db2302cad38a8f3aee97f5b02d8e&un=wisdomroots
Posted by: Sean | February 8th, 2010 at 1:07 pmSpeaking of companies that “pretend to be part of the solution”…… How about the clinical trial in Lancet testing a closed-loop, external artificial pancreas. Seems that while Animas is busy promising us and the JDRF that they will develop an artifical pancreas, Medtronic has already developed and has been testing one for greater than a year now. Looks like another example of the almighty dollar winning to get publicity for Animas. I’m glad my pump company has already put their money where their mouth is.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNLDE6130BW20100205?rpc=44
Posted by: Clarke | February 8th, 2010 at 10:01 pmI think you missed this while searching the Pepsi website (click the Mark Sanchez video at the bottom of the page):
http://www.nfl.com/partner?partnerType=refresh-project
Maybe if you had advertised this on your website this week, Pepsi would have donated $100,000 to the JDRF to help fight diabetes. We need to stop blaming others and take responsibility for our own health.
Posted by: Frankie | February 8th, 2010 at 10:11 pmInstead of ranting and raving about the fact that so many millions CHOOSE to drink soda and eat tons of snack food, why not concentrate on the unique opportunity here to get Pepsi to actually DO something about diabetes research – for a cure. I don’t education is helping because these folks that make poor choices over and over again, cannot be oblivious to the information that all us non-soda, or occasional soda drinkers have.
Put your obviously well-oiled brains together and come up with a suggestion for the refresh campaign that would get more badly needed funds for diabetes research. This is an opportunity to work with them to DO something useful for diabetes instead of just yakking about it!
Posted by: Jackie T. Ewing | February 9th, 2010 at 4:50 amThank you for your information. I thought that Mountain Dew is ok for diabet 2 type. By your information, so I have been taking ponsion. Henceforth I will stop taking pepsi product and encourage others to stop taking it as well.
You have done well for exposing this ORGANISATION who are interested in making profit. Keep on
Posted by: Itodo | February 10th, 2010 at 1:20 amIt certainly seems like this is a good opportunity for a media hack.
Hmm, they already have 1000 submissions for this month, but you can start an application and save it for submission on Mar1.
I created one, which I hope I’ll be able to activate at http://refresheverything/closepepsico but I suspect it will get blocked.
Posted by: Bill Seitz | February 18th, 2010 at 1:01 pmI posted a comment two nights ago and disagreed with some of your points. I see that my comment was not “approved” for post. So I guess if you don’t agree 100%, that you don’t have a voice here.
Posted by: ryans mom | March 4th, 2010 at 5:21 pm