The real terrorist is that bag of Fritos...

Every time I return to the United States, I find myself asking "are people getting...bigger?" Sad confirmation from CNN's little map showing the rise of obesity since 1985 (the year I moved abroad, come to think of it). Unsurprisingly, the South seems most affected.

Many reasons, I'm sure, lie behind the trend. The enormous amount of processed foods on supermarket shelves never fails to shock me, and I would assume they are one of the chief culprits (but, then, I've been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, enough to put you off processed foods for the rest of your life).

But when I ask Americans about what will be the biggest threat to the Republic over the next 50 years, the answer is always.. always... "terrorism." What poppycock. Terrorism is, at most, an irritant. What will hold America back is losing a growing share of its productive work force (and lots of cash and resources) to obesity. Damn, people, lay off the Fluffernutter already.

Hat tips to Anil Dash and John Dvorak.

Technorati : CNN, demographic map, fluffernutter, obesity, terrorism

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:05pm in Food and Drink, Healthcare, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (0)

Marshmallow Fluff should be banned from school tables

Scott Baradell, at Media Orchard, points us to the Fluffernutter Flap, without revealing his take on it. One suspects he's sort of sweet on the lamentable outcome of the flap, but I'll let him reveal that. I'm not afraid to reveal my take, however. Scott quotes the Boston Globe:

Jonathan Durkee has two words for [Massachusetts] state Senator Jarrett Barrios: Thank you.

Durkee is treasurer of the Lynn company that produces Marshmallow Fluff, which  Barrios targeted last month when he tried to ban the Fluffernutter sandwich from school lunches. But Barrios did not realize how much of a New England icon sweet marshmallow spread slathered over white bread and twinned with peanut butter was...

The Fluffernutter Wars were on. "Nightline" chimed in, along with Regis and Kelly and The Los Angeles Times ... Then the inevitable. Internet orders sent to the mother ship in Lynn skyrocketed 800 percent from 10 to 80 cases a day...

Durkee said it was too early to tell if the bump would carry through to the holiday season, when sales typically peak. In Lynn, fingers remained crossed. A thank-you letter to Barrios? Not yet in the mail.

A couple of quick points: 1) Durkee is not only treasurer, but an owner of the Durkee-Mower Company that makes the stuff. The Globe should have mentioned that. 2) Barrios is not trying to ban your  feeding your kids this stuff, if that is your desire. He just wants school lunchrooms stopped from dropping the sugar-bombs ("I'm not sure we should we should even be calling it a food.") on helpless targets. The Globe should have mentioned that, too.

Who's the winner here? Not the 23% of Americans who are obese.  Some PR practitioners may chortle over Fluff's windfall success -- after all, the company is shipping 8 times the stuff. But the chortles are where PR oldtimers buy the profession the disdain of the people. You see, Marshmallow Fluff is crap. Well, no, not crap but "corn syrup, sugar syrup, vanilla flavor, and egg white" -- please just imagine what these ingredients look like in industrial vats -- whipped into a froth, then pumped into containers. The stuff is so unstable the company cannot even provide a "Use Before" date -- it varies from "six months to one year" according to the company FAQ (So why don't they answer that one on the container, if it's an FAQ?).

There's no reason -- none in the world -- why this crap should be slathered on sandwiches and forced on children in school lunchrooms. Sugars, fats -- junk food -- are the everyday fare on American children's lunch tables. I know: I once had to eat the stuff. Fried and sweet come to mind most frequently. They could have just served us fried sugar and been done with it. And, no, this has nothing to do with having to serve many cheap meals in a short time. I was in the US Navy, which also serves great quantities of food: bland and boring, to be sure, but nutritious and balanced.

Is political hay being made? Barrios is a Massachusetts Democrat, a label that causes eyes to roll across the American "Heartland." But he's not alone. This week's edition of The Economist discusses the efforts of Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a Republican (in fact, a former head of the Republican National Committee) to reduce obesity in his state. Why would he bother? Because almost 65% of Mississippians are obese or overweight. Because obesity -- caused by cradle to early-grave consumption of fats and sweets -- is killing the state's workforce, raising its healthcare costs, and diverting funds from education, infrastructure, you name it.

Scott Baradell was careful not to reveal his views, but if I were Marshmallow Fluff's PR agency, I'd be circling the wagons (actually, I'd be resigning the account, embarrassed to have taken it in the first place). Helping companies make your kids fatter and sugar powered -- is that really a business you want to be in?

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:23pm in Advertising, Healthcare, Is Tedious in the House?, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (8)

Avian Flu Pandemic: Blogging from the Front Lines (Repost)

10 birds have been found dead of avian flu here in Denmark in the last week.  The Avian Flu story has been around so long, that I suspect many of us have started to tune it out. I know I have.

But that's exactly what we mustn't do if we are to make sure our governments are prepared if the flu mutates so that is easily transmitted to humans.

Below is a repost of a blog entry I made May 28, 2005.

May 28, 2005

Avian Flu Pandemic: Blogging From the Front Lines

"President George Bush has just addressed the press in the East Room of the White House. Here's the transcript: "At this hour, the World Health Organization has declared a full-scale pandemic influenza alert, with person-to-person spread lasting more than two weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam. During previous influenza pandemics in the United States, large numbers of people were ill, sought medical care, were hospitalized and died. On my orders, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services have today implemented the nation's draft Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan. It will serve as our road map, on how we as a nation, and as a member of the global health community, respond to the pandemic. We are ready. Thank you, and may God bless America."

So begins the first entry of a fictional blog in this week's issue of Nature. This is the first instance I've seen of using blog format to tell a story (though the estimable Samuel Pepys Diary Blog is a variation), but surely not the last. In fact, I suspect it will become a cliché within months.

Other examples, anyone?

Update: A discussion of if it was anti-American to start with the Bush quote over at Lanuage Log.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:09am in Bloggers, Denmark, Fiction, Healthcare | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3)

Steve Rubel's Skin Cancer Blog is up

Steve Rubel, PR blogger at Micropersuasion, was diagnosed yesterday with basal cell carcinoma, the least dangerous, but still serious, kind of skin cancer.

I am, frankly, unsure what I would do in the first hours after a cancer diagnosis. What Steve did was a) proceed with a planned business trip, b)  plan a Skin Cancer Blog , and c)  less than 24 hours later, launch the blog.

Respect!

Technorati tags:
Skin Cancer

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 12:15pm in Bloggers, Healthcare | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0)

Avian Flu Pandemic: Blogging From the Front Lines

"President George Bush has just addressed the press in the East Room of the White House. Here's the transcript: "At this hour, the World Health Organization has declared a full-scale pandemic influenza alert, with person-to-person spread lasting more than two weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam. During previous influenza pandemics in the United States, large numbers of people were ill, sought medical care, were hospitalized and died. On my orders, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services have today implemented the nation's draft Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan. It will serve as our road map, on how we as a nation, and as a member of the global health community, respond to the pandemic. We are ready. Thank you, and may God bless America."

So begins the first entry of a fictional blog in this week's issue of Nature. This is the first instance I've seen of using blog format to tell a story (though the estimable Samuel Pepys Diary Blog is a variation), but surely not the last. In fact, I suspect it will become a cliché within months.

Other examples, anyone?

Update: A discussion of if it was anti-American to start with the Bush quote over at Lanuage Log.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:49am in Bloggers, Fiction, Healthcare | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0)

Danish Epilepsy Association Blog Goes Live

One of my clients, the Danish Epilepsy Association, launched their blog today, just in time for their national conference tomorrow.

The association already has a frequently-updated website and and active member discussion forum. Blogging -- a team blog of patients, families, doctors, and association leaders --  was a natural next step.

It's one of the first patient association blogs in the world and will, I hope, demonstrate the possibilities team-blogging brings to groups and associations.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:45pm in Bloggers, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Healthcare | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0)