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Nicholas Freudenberg City University of New York School of Public Health
and Hunter College
Reducing the Influence of the Alcohol, Food and Beverage and Tobacco Industries on Health
Education: Lessons from Local, National and Global Campaigns
The Wrap Up
1. Why are the practices of the global tobacco, food and alcohol corporations important for public health?
2. What are the common practices of these three industries that have an impact on health education?
3. What can health educators do to reduce the harmful impact of tobacco, food and alcohol corporations on global premature death, preventable illnesses and injuries?
The Global Burden of Chronic DiseaseIn 2008, 36 million of 57
million deaths chronic conditions
Nearly 80 percent of those deaths occur in developing countries and 25% among people < 60 years old
By 2030, they will cause > 75% of global deaths
Cost to the world economy over the next two decades is estimated at $47 trillion
Bloom DE, Cafiero ET, Jané-Llopis E, et al. The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases. Geneva: World Economic Forum. 2011.
World Health Organization on primary causes of increase in non-communicable diseases
Leading drivers of increasing NCDs:Tobacco useAlcohol useFoods high in fat,
sugar, salt and calories Physical inactivity
Are we willing to sacrifice another generation to NCDs?
Unweighted Trends in Unhealthy Commodities, by Geographic Region, 2000-2010
Stuckler D, McKee M, Ebrahim S, Basu S (2012) Manufacturing Epidemics: The Role of Global Producers in Increased Consumption of Unhealthy Commodities Including Processed Foods, Alcohol, and Tobacco. PLoS Med 9(6): e1001235. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001235
Marketing Tobacco, Food and Alcohol
United States annual expenditures on advertising :
Cigarette companies $8.37 billion (2011)
Alcohol industry $4 billion
$6.6 billion for food and candy advertising and $6.2 billion for restaurants (2012)
$1.8 billion on food marketing to children
About $25 billion per year,About $68 million per day,About $80 per person per
year
CDC: budget in 2011 about $11 billion
In US we spend about 2.3 times as much on advertising tobacco, alcohol and food as on federal public health efforts
How corporate practices get inside our head
PracticesAdvertisingUbiquitous availabilityMisinformationAppeals to fears,
insecurities or biological vulnerabilities
Manufacture of scientific doubt
Campaign contributions & lobbying
Philanthropy
Pathways Physical environmentsSocial environmentsSocial and peer normsPolitical climateDominant ideology Political power
The Problem
Hyperconsumption -- an ideology that promotes behaviors, lifestyles, values, physical and social environments and policies that contribute to premature deaths and preventable illnesses and injuries Credit: newsjunkiepost.com
The Corporate Consumption Complex
The Remedy
Create a counter-ideology that can engage people in creating healthy, sustainable, joyful lifestyles
Contest the appropriation of science and politics to promote hyperconsumption
Over time, dismantle the corporate consumption complex, a threat to health, democracy and the environment
Health educators have hit a fork in the road
Path 1 Path 2
Business as usual
Professional organizations and academic institutions always find rationale to partner with alcohol, food and tobacco industries
Health departments step back from confronting industry disease promotion activities
Corporations increasingly become America’s health educators
Bottom line is health
Health educators reclaim responsibility for educating about health
Contesting disease promotion becomes a priority
Partnerships judged by their outcome, not the good will they generate
Professional organizations and universities refuse to be coopted
What roles for health educators in Path 2?
Health educators aim to :
1.Engage people’s minds and emotions in creating healthy, sustainable lifestyles
2.Reclaim public space for public rather than commercial activities
3.Contest use of science and technology to profit at expense of human well-being
4.Act to require corporations to accept responsibility for the costs of the diseases they promote
5. Make moral and economic arguments against institutions that promote unhealthy behavior, lifestyle and environments
6. Join campaigns to remove corporate money from our political life
For more information
Nicholas Freudenberg [email protected]
Corporations and Health Watch www.corporationsandhealth.org
Healthy Public Policy -- research workgroup www.healthypublicpolicy.org
