Jul
3
2008
Just Buy It: Corporations fund scientific research to back up their marketing claims
Author: Robin BrowneDid you eat some dark chocolate recently and feel good – not guilt – because you’ve heard that studies show that it’s good for you? Did you ever ask yourself where those studies come from? Well, yesterday I learned something that is going to keep me asking that question.
I heard that candy giant, Mars Corp., has endowed a Chair of Chocolate Science at the University of California at Davis . The goal of the Chair, according to Corporations and Health Watch, is to “study the antioxidant properties of cacao”. I tried to confirm the Chair’s goal on the Mars website and the university’s – but could find no mention of it on either.
Now, does anyone really think the Chair will be doing objective research on the good – and bad – antioxidant properties of cacao? Or do we all suspect the Chair’s job is to produce studies that say chocolate is great for your health and you should eat lots more of it? I know what camp I’m in. To me the message is clear: if some corporations can’t find science to back up their marketing claims they Just Buy It.
I found out about the Mars Chair while listening to an interview with author Michael Pollan on his new book In Defence of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio show, The Current. In the book, Pollan argues that the more a food trumpets its own benefits, through things like fancy packages with health claims, the less likely it is to be healthy. He says the healthiest foods are the quietest, like the produce sitting silently at farmers’ markets or at the edges of the supermarket. Pollan tells us to, “Listen to the silence of the yams…” (a line I love!)
So, before you choose to have your product ride the latest science-driven publicity wave, listen to that little voice questioning the veracity of the science and do the work to find out where the science comes from – or your brand may get tainted with the smell of science gone bad.
