Open Access“We’re Part of the Solution”: Evolution of the Food and Beverage Industry’s Framing of Obesity Concerns Between 2000 and 2012
Author(s) -
Laura Nixon,
Pamela Mejia,
Andrew Cheyne,
Cara Wilking,
Lori Dorfman,
Richard A. Daynard
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2015.302819
Subject(s) - food industry , framing (construction) , newspaper , obesity , beverage industry , tobacco industry , business , public health , government (linguistics) , marketing , advertising , consumer advocacy , public relations , environmental health , political science , medicine , law , engineering , linguistics , philosophy , nursing , structural engineering
We investigated how industry claim-makers countered concerns about obesity and other nutrition-related diseases in newspaper coverage from 2000, the year before the US Surgeon General's Call to Action on obesity, through 2012. We found that the food and beverage industry evolved in its response. The defense arguments were made by trade associations, industry-funded nonprofit groups, and individual companies representing the packaged food industry, restaurants, and the nonalcoholic beverage industry. Individual companies used the news primarily to promote voluntary self-regulation, whereas trade associations and industry-supported nonprofit groups directly attacked potential government regulations. There was, however, a shift away from framing obesity as a personal issue toward an overall message that the food and beverage industry wants to be "part of the solution" to the public health crisis.