Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (California Studies in Food and Culture)

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In the U.S., we're bombarded with nutritional advice--the work, we assume, of reliable authorities with our best interests at heart. Far from it, says Marion Nestle, whose Food Politics absorbingly details how the food industry--through lobbying, advertising, and the co-opting of experts--influences our dietary choices to our detriment. Central to her argument is the American "paradox of plenty," the recognition that our food abundance (we've enough calories to meet every citizen's needs twice over) leads profit-fixated food producers to do everything possible to broaden their market portion, thus swaying us to eat more when we should do the opposite. The result is compromised health: epidemic obesity to start, and increased vulnerability to heart and lung disease, cancer, and stroke--reversible if the constantly suppressed "eat less, move more" message that most nutritionists shout could be heard.

Nestle, nutrition chair at New York University and editor of the 1988 Surgeon General Report, has served her time in the dietary trenches and is ideally suited to revealing how government nutritional advice is watered down when a message might threaten industry sales. (Her report on byzantine nutritional food-pyramid rewordings to avoid "eat less" recommendations is both predictable and astonishing.) She has other "war stories," too, that involve marketing to children in school (in the form of soft-drink "pouring rights" agreements, hallway advertising, and fast-food coupon giveaways), and diet-supplement dramas in which manufacturers and the government enter regulation frays, with the industry championing "free choice" even as that position counters consumer protection. Is there hope? "If we want to encourage people to eat better diets," says Nestle, "we need to target societal means to counter food industry lobbying and marketing practices as well as the education of individuals." It's a telling conclusion in an engrossing and masterfully panoramic exposé. --Arthur Boehm

Book Description

We all witness, in advertising and on supermarket shelves, the fierce competition for our food dollars. In this engrossing exposé, Marion Nestle goes behind the scenes to reveal how the competition really works and how it affects our health. The abundance of food in the United States--enough calories to meet the needs of every man, woman, and child twice over--has a downside. Our overefficient food industry must do everything possible to persuade people to eat more--more food, more often, and in larger portions--no matter what it does to waistlines or well-being.
Like manufacturing cigarettes or building weapons, making food is very big business. Food companies in 2000 generated nearly $900 billion in sales. They have stakeholders to please, shareholders to satisfy, and government regulations to deal with. It is nevertheless shocking to learn precisely how food companies lobby officials, co-opt experts, and expand sales by marketing to children, members of minority groups, and people in developing countries. We learn that the food industry plays politics as well as or better than other industries, not least because so much of its activity takes place outside the public view.
Editor of the 1988 Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health, Nestle is uniquely qualified to lead us through the maze of food industry interests and influences. She vividly illustrates food politics in action: watered-down government dietary advice, schools pushing soft drinks, diet supplements promoted as if they were First Amendment rights. When it comes to the mass production and consumption of food, strategic decisions are driven by economics--not science, not common sense, and certainly not health.
No wonder most of us are thoroughly confused about what to eat to stay healthy. An accessible and balanced account, Food Politics will forever change the way we respond to food industry marketing practices. By explaining how much the food industry influences government nutrition policies and how cleverly it links its interests to those of nutrition experts, this pathbreaking book helps us understand more clearly than ever before what we eat and why.

Customer Reviews:

What's next?.......2006-06-19

When I came back to USA in 1990 from Japan after 10 years, I was a little shocked. It's there are so many obese. I stop seeing proportionate people as I admired once before (since I'm from Japan; we were small and rather plain looking.) What happened! I thought it's that soda-pop as I always watch the countless gallon bottles my next customers are buying at the every grocery shopping. As I was wondering, this nation sued tobacco companies. So I kept wondering, why don't they blame major soda-pop companies for obese. Soda-pop companies are not the sole culprit, but I was surprised to find that tabacco companies and sweet companies are somehow related. Anyhow, whatever the policy that the government had or have, if any, failed. I really hope to do something to improve American diet. Sooner is better. (I go to large Oriental Grocery Store at least once a month. You will be amazed how much size of green section they carry. It's almost 10 times of what Giants or Safeway carries, for example.)

A Well-Documented Book, A must read for everybody who eats.......2005-11-30

I found this book to be very informative about the political workings of the food industry. I agree with several other reviewers that it is a little dull and in an factual style (kind of reminds me of a history book. However I like that kind of reading, so it doesn't bother me.)

This book's basic premise is that the food industry's purpose is to sell as much food as possible. The food industry doesn't care about its consumers and encourages them to eat more than they need, produces lots of useless, cheap, junk food, and will do whatever it can within the political system (mostly legal, but sometimes illegal. The author documents one such example of price collusion) to set up an environment that is the most favorable to its interests.

The book documents how the FDA, Congress, and government agencies are influenced by the food industry. It provides details about the food industry's lobbying, studies and research grants funded by various segments of the food industry, the food industry's attempts to gain brand loyalty though school contracts, conflicts with the school lunch program, and attempts to maximize sales through bonuses for the schools. It chronicles the rise of the supplement industry and their involvement with the FDA.

The author does seem to have a somewhat leftist agenda in the last chapter in giving recommendations; but with that exception, I thought the overall tone of the book was neutral and strictly documentary. It's good solid book which people who are interested in their health or the American food industry should read.

If only more could read this book.......2005-08-07

This book touches upon issues that everyone is aware of but chooses to ignore. The author makes this obvious but in an non-condescending way which is much appreciated. He ties the biases of the food industry in with other industries such as the pharmaceutical and tobacco industries. Drawing the connections between these three and the governmental regulatory agencies that work with/against them respectively (USDA, FDA, ATF), the author illustrates just how much of a problem this is. Not only was I fascinated by the issue, but I found the writing very accessible. Well done and it's too bad more haven't read it.

Why Do You Eat What You Eat?.......2005-08-06

Nestle presents a well researched, balanced description of how our market system in the US can hurt its citizens if proper checks and balances aren't applied. Our system only works if consumers are informed and can act on that information. Instead, it is abundantly evident that food producers (who are after all in the business of making money, not protecting our health)are experts at manipulating our food choices by advertising to children, lobbying for food labels that mislead the public, and generally doing everything they can to relax regulations meant to protect us that may stand in the way of increased revenue. Nestle's research in many ways is analogous to the saga of big tobacco, but food as she points out is much more nuanced -- you can't tell people just stop eating food like you can cigarettes. So who is at fault? Its not just industry, its our political system, our regulating agencies, school boards, and advocates. Nestle's writing is fine, just too detailed for some audiences at some points. Her research seems exhaustive (and is exhaustively referenced) and she speaks from first hand experience. Nestle is courageous for writing this and it will surely become a classic in public health literature.

An Important Read in a Lackluster Format.......2005-06-15

Here's the thing.

As one reviewer mentioned I think the bulk of negative reviewers have not actually read this book.

The author is a nuritionist, who says that despite the really basic nutritional advice of most nutritionists which has not significantly changed over the course of a half century, the public still views nutritional advice as difficult to understand.

Why?

Because the food industry makes more money when it sells more products. It has a vested interest in getting people to at least buy (if not eat) more food. Most importantly, the least healthy foods (i.e. highly processed foods) have the highest profit margins. To ensure profits, they pressure the government to avoid informing the public in an easily understandable format that they should eat less and avoid processed foods.

Is she saying this is the ONLY reason why americans are fat? No. But the fact that many, many, many americans have problems figuring out what the heck to eat is heavily due to the food lobbyists, a fact which she goes into in nauseating detail.

And therein lies the problem.

Nestle is an Academic and she writes like one. Anyone familiar with non-fiction in the style of Nickle and Dimed, Fast Food Nation, or even Island of the Colorblind will find Food Politics irritating. Not because the book is poorly written, per se, but because it's dull.

She obscures critical points between reams of facts, her narrative style plods along instead of floating or skipping, and I frequently felt like hurling the book across the room screaming get to the point already.

But I did finish the book.

Because the message is far more important then the limited medium. This book is critically important in that it hi-lights the sad reality that billions of dollars being spent vying for a place on the tip of your fork. Sadly very little of this money bears your health in mind.

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Current Issues In Political Marketing

Manufacturer: Best Business Books
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ASIN: 0789024373

Book Description

Explore the increased need for marketing within the political arena

Current Issues in Political Marketing presents up-to-date theory and research findings from academics working in political science, advertising, and management, and guidance from successful practitioners who know what it takes to make a nonprofit organization stand out in a crowd. The book presents the latest thinking on marketing issues and the consequences of political marketing, including insights into current British politics that can easily be applied to democratic countries. It will help you develop strategies that make effective use of limited resources as nonprofit organizations face greater competition for reduced government funding.

Current Issues in Political Marketing addresses the ethical and practical difficulties in implementing traditional business approaches into the political and public arena. Political parties, the media, universities, local governments, charities, and legislatures are all adopting tools of marketing intelligence to understand their market needs and demands. This unique book examines how to adapt marketing to politics, including which marketing tools and concepts can be successfully transferred, and looks at the advantages—and problems—that political marketing can bring.

Topics examined in Current Issues in Political Marketing include:

political frames

agenda setting

voter attitude

public-policy marketing

change management

relationship marketing

voter disengagement

party identification

market orientation

product anatomy

branding

segmentation

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Amid protests against the Pinochet regime, a group of población(shantytown) residents came together in 1984 to challenge poor health care in their community and to denounce military rule. How did their organization respond seven years later when Chile's transition to democracy brought an end to dictatorship but no clear solution to ongoing health problems? Marketing Democracy shows how the exercise of power and the strategies of social movements transformed with the transition from a military to an elected-civilian regime in Chile. The term "marketing democracy" refers first to how contemporary democracies are shaped by transnational market forces, and second to how politicians have promoted democracy with the twin goals of attracting foreign capital and diminishing social movements.

Customer Reviews:

Democracy by other means?.......2005-03-24

War is nothing but a continuation of political intercourse, with a mixture of other means."
- Karl von Clausewitz, On War

The stunning violence and repression of the Pinochet regime in Chile often overshadows the stability and economic prosperity that it was engineered to accomplish. Julia Paley's assessment that Pinochet's "repression was not the raison d'être of the military government...rather, it was a means to an end," is an accurate characterization. For when does repression and extreme violence ever exist unless to someone's advantage? In this way, the repression of the Pinochet regime becomes the modus operandi to achieve stability that Allende was unable to deliver for Chile.

General Augusto Pinochet was a hard-handed military man and likely studied Clausewitz. Clausewitz very concisely describes the mentality that guides military dictatorships. Force and the threat of force are the modus operandi of the military and therefore it follows that Pinochet would use such tactics to accomplish any goal. The influence of National Security Doctrine over the Southern Cone in the 1960s and 1970s was evident in other regimes, such as in Argentina. The military view that the democrats were selling the country down the river was a moral affront to the national identity and a threat to stability. Indeed, Allende was unable to use democratic institutions and methods to foster a healthy national economy or to promote stability. Pinochet viewed this as the failure of democracy, and a heavy hand was the only remaining option to save the nation.

However, Paley's argument seems to suggest that had there been another means that would have allowed Pinochet to implement his economic program that he would have pursued it; i.e. negotiations with Allende supporters or an economic summit of some sort. At some point the debate over whether or not the violence was the means or the end becomes a futile discussion. The more salient discussion concerns the enduring impacts on the structure of contemporary Chilean politics and economics that Pinochet continues to exert. The irony of Pinochet is that even though he was replaced more than a decade ago, he continues to shape political and economic discourse today.

The health of the Chilean economy, ironically, keeps alive the danger of Pinochet supporters claiming a moral victory of sorts. By pointing to a record of the lowest unemployment, lowest inflation, healthy exports, and stability, especially relative to Argentina, Peru, and other regional economies, supporters of the Pinochet regime have empirical evidence to justify that government's repression. It weakens the authority of Allendistas and democrats because the clear break from Allende and democracy resulted in a strong economy. In essence, Pinochet has framed the political culture in terms of an effective-ineffective dichotomy, where Pinochet's repressive regime occupies the former and Allende's democratic government occupies the latter.

In fact, Pinochet did receive justification for his economic policies from the newly elected democratic government in 1990. The pacted transition from Pinochet to Aylwin fixed the new civilian government in terms of Pinochet's 1982 constitution. In the end, Paley says, "the economic program instituted by Pinochet's regime gained legitimacy from being administered by an elected government."

The enduring lesson for Chilean politicians seems to be stability at any cost. Because democracy can be messy and uncertain, Pinochet viewed it as a threat. The signals from the United States have been unhelpful in terms of fostering democracy also. In the 1970s, Pinochet enjoyed the support of the U.S. in overthrowing Allende and leading Chile, and during the 1980s the U.S. also supported Pinochet in his campaign against the Socialist reformers. The neoliberal economic system that Pinochet constructed during the 1970s, with the support of the U.S., which has outlasted Pinochet, is the context in which democracy currently operates. But it is a very limited form of democracy. Structurally, the rollback of social programs and focus on the macroeconomic picture automatically excludes the poorest in Chile and advantages the wealthiest. This democracia con apellidos has become the new modus operandi for stability in democracy.

Paley argues that the privatization of services that has resulted from both the outright repression of Pinochet and the more subtle repression of neoliberalism essentially limits democracy. When nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) offer services to citizens, instead of the state, important decisions are beyond the scope of the public's ability to participate.

The health of the Chilean economy should be a point of pride. However, the danger of focusing on the macroeconomic picture presents for democracy and governance is the temptation to return to repression as a stabilizing force. There has been no contemporary example to demonstrate to Chileans that democracy is favorable to an exclusionary or repressive government, especially in times when stabilization is necessary. To return to Paley's argument, the raison d'être of Chilean politics, then, is stability and the modus operandi, at least in terms of Pinochet, is violent repression. Thus, we see an inherent paradox within Chilean democracy. Although Pinochet's repressive, anti-democratic regime is no longer the engine of government, through the wholesale manipulation of the structure of government, it still ensures that its paradigms and priorities are the law of the land.

A question that needs to be answered in post-Pinochet Chile is whether or not Chile can enjoy stability in a truly democratic context, and if so whether it will endeavor to do so. Currently, the macroeconomic picture is positive. From 1992 to 2002, GDP per capita rose from $9080 to 10,373; unemployment dropped nearly one percent; and the percentage of the national economy that is public debt held even. (Economist 23 June 2003). Troublesome is that the political culture of Pinochet's bureaucratic-authoritarian regime holds specter over today's political climate, which proves problematic because repression remains a temptation and a tendency for Chilean politicians, but it keeps the focus on the macroeconomic.

Pinochet in many ways was the vanguard of neoliberalism in Latin America, and since the wave of its structural adjustments has passed over the region, it is clear that governments are forced to cater toward positive macroeconomic indicators. By monitoring GDP, for example, one cannot get a clear view of individual prosperity, because Latin America is the most unequal region in the world. Therefore, the government is never truly democratic (democracia con apellidos) because so many actually fare so poorly in a healthy macroeconomic situation.

A hopeful message in Paley's book is that democratic impulses can and do grow in a democratically ambivalent political framework, even if they are not the norm. The Llareta group created a democratic space within an environment where the term "participation" had been co-opted by the state to legitimize its abdication of responsibility. Paley states, "Llareta and other social organizations in La Bandera actively contested the meaning of participation and attempted to reclaim it in the service of revitalized mobilization."

Although the impacts of Pinochet's rule are obviously still felt today, the outlook is unclear. If Chile remains as it is today, a relatively stable and prosperous country, the tendency toward Pinochet will likely be weak. However, there is a danger in this as well. Should the strength of democracy remain untested, its roots into the political culture may not grow deep, either. But, if Chile develops a history of facing crises of stability and also protecting democratic institutions, then the likelihood that democracy will endure is much greater. It seems as though, and Paley concurs on this point, the structural adjustment program requirements on Latin American nations are not democracy-friendly.

Should the international community truly wish to commit itself to fostering democracy and preventing the rise of another Pinochet in Chile, it might do well to untie the hands of political leaders who need to cater to positive macroeconomic goals. By doing so, the halting of the state's retreat will encourage more citizens to become engaged and truer stakeholders in the Chilean state. Perhaps then, democracy will be more than a marketing slogan in Chile.

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Excellent introduction on marketing to engineers
Its all about the context!
It's All About Appropriate Thinking
Its all about the context!

It's Not About the Technology
Raj Karamchedu
Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Hardcover

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Marketing High Technology

ASIN: 0387233504

Book Description

It's Not About the Technology is about a phenomenon most dreaded by high-technology industry executives: a failure at the execution leading to a missed market window. High-tech executives agree that a critical factor that drives the company to such a failure is the breakdown of interaction between marketing and engineering. This book is predicated on the notion that the success of execution lies neither in the technology nor in the market strategy. On the contrary, it is shaped by the context of an individual, whether an engineer or a marketer. From this viewpoint, successful execution in a high-tech company is manifest in a confluence of 3 contexts: the technological, the customer and the economic contexts. This book tackles the big questions of how to develop the basic craft of the thinking required in high-tech companies. Drawing from basic economic principles and practical experience in the semiconductor business, it breaks new ground in our understanding of the complexities of high-tech execution.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent introduction on marketing to engineers.......2005-07-18

Among many other things, I think this is a perfect book to bridge the marketing gap for engineers (and the engineering aspects for product managers). Product specifications invariably evolve as the product is being whetted - and new features may require re-engineering which could delay the product. This stuff happens every day in engineering organizations. Companies have to trade-off between product features and market timing and an inherent tension develops between development and marketing groups.

As with any problem the solution lies in acquiring knowledge - in this case knowledge of the workings of the various groups responsible for the finished product. The book does an excellent job of guiding the user through this process. Like all good solutions maybe the answer is conceptually simple!

Its all about the context!.......2005-01-23

I heard about this book through a friend of mine and bought it. The Slashdot review appeared as I was half-way through the book and it didn't connect. May be it's me, but what I was reading in this book was quite interesting. First of all, this book takes quite an interesting approach to describe the problems in high tech community. It is very readable. The author covers *a lot* of stuff in 230 pages. I do agree with Slashdot reviewer that the author has only described his personal experiences. I've been in the field of IT for over 20 years and I think this is the first time a book talks so much about the people and their mindsets, without trying to offer a new buzzword. Refreshing. Of late I've been dealing with a lot of Indian offshore executives and I highly recommend that high tech companies (may be all companies) in India read this book so that they know how a mature professional ought to think. Part Three of the book is a classic introduction to the real product marketing, just the way it ought to be done in high tech companies. The context framework the author uses repeatedly is quite intriguing, although it just might come across as a little too-rigorous for a professional book like this.

It's All About Appropriate Thinking.......2005-01-21

In the Preface, Karamchedu offers a core premise that senior-level executives in high-technology companies must have a specific mindset which enables them to remain connected, not only with their employer organizations and colleagues but also with their family members and friends. "This book is an attempt to record the [in italics] makings [end italics] of such a mindset. More important, we attempt to establish [in italics] why [end italics] the thinking must be in such a way." Karamchedu also examines the reasons for the failure for so many new product designs which are launched in the high technology sector. "Either the product is not what the customer wanted, or the product did not arrive in time, or [it] did not have a compelling advantage over that of its competitor's. Karamchedu identifies three reasons, any one of which could ensure failure. I was also interested in what Karamchedu had to say about an especially formidable challenge: To coordinate, indeed integrate harmonious collaboration between engineering groups and marketing teams.

Karamchedu carefully organizes 20 chapters within four Parts: The Thinking (e.g. "The Problem"), The Forward Movement Latent in Execution (e.g. "The Context of Execution"), High Tech Contexts: A Semiconductor Company View (e.g. "The Semiconductor Value Chain"), and The Craft and the Mindset (e.g. "Manage Expectations"). If I understand Karamchedu correctly (and I may not), he asserts that more often than not, failure in the high-tech marketplace is not the result of faulty technology and/or a defective strategy; rather, because of a lack of cooperation and collaboration between/among engineers and marketers. This lack of interaction almost always results in ineffective execution. Market windows come and go unrecognized until it is too late. Karamchedu responds to one of the most important questions posed in this book: How is it that, in spite of making remarkable strides in high technology product design, development and deployment of these products in markets, we are still struggling to create a harmony between marketing and engineering professionals?"

For me, Chapter 10 ("The Context of Execution") is one of the most interesting and most valuable because it is in this chapter that Karamchedu focuses on a framework of contexts: the technological, the customer, and the economic. All three must be engaged in driving whatever individual employees create, build, and deploy in the market. Thus viewed, "a high technology company is simply a confluence of the three contexts." Karamchedu views all this as a powerful new paradigm to connect the three contexts with the circle of execution. How? Please see page 92.

Lest these brief remarks incorrectly suggest that this is an especially theoretical, hypothetical book, I hasten to observe that Karamchedu seems well aware of that peril and for that reason includes dozens of concrete examples which effectively illustrate his key points. If I have a concern, it is that the material may seem too technical to marketing executives and not technical enough to engineers. I agree with Karamchedu that "the strength of any high technology product is differentiation and a focused approach to selected markets." Hence the importance of having a vision which provides a clear, unquestionable, solid identity as to [in italics] what we are as a company." Karamchedu views his approach in this book as an "experiment" and it probably is. Be that as it may, executives in high technology companies are indeed provided with "something useful to think about" as they continue to explore and refine the craft of thinking on which the success of their organizations so heavily depends.

Well-done, Raj Karamchedu!

Its all about the context!.......2005-01-13

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Marketing Democracy
James R. Kluegel
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0742501523

Shop 'til You Drop: Consumer Behavior and American Culture

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Shop 'til You Drop: Consumer Behavior and American Culture
Arthur Asa Berger
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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ASIN: 0742536904

Book Description

Are Americans obsessed with shopping? Shop 'til You Drop is a lively look at our consumer culture and its role in our everyday lives and society. Arthur Asa Berger considers the sacred roots of consumer culture, the demographics of consumption, theories about competing cultures, and the semiotics of shopping. Accessibly written and entertaining, this book is ideal for courses in cultural studies, advertising, and American studies, as well as for anyone curious about our nation's drive to consume.

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