Music
Doctors ask fans to challenge musicians endorsing unhealthy food
by Richard Howard
June 7, 2016
81% of food products endorsed by stars like Beyonce and Maroon 5 are unhealthy.
We get it, superstars – the world doesn’t buy albums like it used to, so you gotta push some commercial products to keep up that 100-ft-yacht-complete-with-cabana-boy lifestyle. However, researchers have pointed out that the stars’ endorsement choices when it comes to food and drink overwhelmingly consist of unhealthy products. They are now urging kids and parents alike to challenge the celebrities in question.
In a recent study, NYU Global Institute of Public Health faculty member Dr. Marie Bragg and her team found that an astounding 81% of 26 food products endorsed by celebrities would be considered unhealthy when observing their values on the Nutrient Profile Index of energy density and nutrient levels.
PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Red Bull, all notorious for sugar-sweetened beverages, were the companies with the most celebrity endorsements. Fast food brands such as McDonald’s, Chili’s and A&W were also named, with endorsements from Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Britney Spears, Rihanna, and Beyoncé (plus a One Direction tour sponsored by Nabisco). And unfortunately for the public’s health, celebrity endorsements are proven effective – researchers found that the YouTube views for these types of ads totalled 312 million between 2000 and 2014.
The problem, according to one obesity-related illness expert, is that there are no repercussions for stars pushing unhealthy products. Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa pointed out the following:
“Right now nobody bats an eye at Beyoncé signing a $50-million deal to sell liquid candy to kids. I think that if that partnership affected her brand because the public was upset by it, we would see it stop.”
Freedhoff went on to suggest that there should be some sort of restriction on the marketing of unhealthy products to kids – not that far fetched considering laws already in place in Quebec and suggested to the Minister of Health by PM Justin Trudeau.
Bragg, meanwhile, urged the teens targeted by the marketing themselves to speak up in hopes of changing the companies’ tactics. Realistically, it’ll probably take some federal clout to force companies to abandon the irresponsible advertising that makes them billions. As Freedhoff noted:
“Pitting my three kids against the Don Drapers of the advertising world with billion-dollar budgets and neuropsychologists and fMRI studies, that’s not a fair fight.”
[h/t CBC]
