“We’re Part of the Solution”: Evolution of the Food and Beverage Industry’s Framing of Obesity Concerns Between 2000 and 2012

摘要

We investigated how industry claim-makers countered concerns about obesity and other nutrition-related diseases in newspaper coverage from 2000, the year before the US Surgeon General’s Call to Action on obesity, through 2012. We found that the food and beverage industry evolved in its response. The defense arguments were made by trade associations, industry-funded nonprofit groups, and individual companies representing the packaged food industry, restaurants, and the nonalcoholic beverage industry. Individual companies used the news primarily to promote voluntary self-regulation, whereas trade associations and industry-supported nonprofit groups directly attacked potential government regulations. There was, however, a shift away from framing obesity as a personal issue toward an overall message that the food and beverage industry wants to be “part of the solution” to the public health crisis. Since 2001, when the US Surgeon General issued a Call to Action to address obesity, 1–3 public health advocates have proposed a range of policies to improve the food and beverage environment. The food industry has strongly opposed many of these initiatives, at times using tobacco industry tactics including corporate social responsibility programs and personal responsibility rhetoric. 4–7 Corporate social responsibility can take many forms, including industry adoption of self-policing strategies intended to resolve public health concerns. 7–10 The food industry has launched and widely publicized a number of self-regulatory programs, 11–14 but research suggests that these initiatives may have done little to mitigate unhealthful food environments. 15–28 Past analyses suggest that the food industry also has used personal responsibility rhetoric to shift responsibility for health harms from the industry and its products onto individuals, 4 influence how the public addresses obesity, and fight government regulation of its products and marketing practices. 4–7 News coverage is an important part of the public conversation about social issues such as obesity. The news helps establish which issues appear on the public agenda, and influences how the public and policymakers view these problems and craft potential solutions. 29–33 Social problems such as obesity are defined by how they are framed and who is influencing the framing. 34 “Framing” refers to how an issue is portrayed and understood, and involves emphasizing certain aspects of an issue to the exclusion of others. 35 News coverage is a key site in which framing takes place. Frames in the news are “persistent patterns” by which the news media organize and present stories. 36 Frames help readers construct meaning consciously or unconsciously, 37 and shape the parameters of public policy debates by promoting “a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.” 35 (p52) Because of the importance of the news in how readers understand contemporary issues, 38 news framing is a site of power struggles in which multiple groups contest to shape public perception of an issue. 39,40 Different speakers or “claim-makers” quoted in the news frame the same issue in conflicting ways to serve their interests. Examining their claims offers insights into the range of perspectives represented on a particular issue. 41–45 Among the key claim-makers for the food and beverage industry (hereafter “food industry”) are food companies, trade associations, and industry-funded nonprofit organizations. Individual food and beverage companies include companies that sell packaged food (e.g., Kraft), restaurant meals (e.g., McDonald’s), and nonalcoholic beverages (e.g., Coca-Cola). Individual companies may comment about public policy in the news, but they also form trade associations that advocate the interests of groups of food companies. 46–49 Trade associations are the public voice of an industry, 50 and often lobby or otherwise influence government decision-making. 51–53 Trade associations also engage in public relations to exercise political influence, including advocacy advertising and speaking with the press. 51 There are numerous food industry trade associations representing the interests of different sectors of the industry such as packaged food manufacturers (e.g., Grocery Manufacturer’s Association), restaurants (e.g., National Restaurant Association), beverage companies (e.g., American Beverage Association [ABA]), and food retailers (e.g., Food Marketing Institute). The food industry also funds nonprofit groups to speak on its behalf. When these groups use names that evoke grassroots consumer advocacy and do not alert the public to their connection with industry they are known as “front groups.” 4 The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) and Americans Against Food Taxes are 2 primary examples. 54 To understand how the food industry has presented itself in the news in the context of obesity policy debates,