President Bush's health care speech this February was held at the Wendy's headquarters in Dublin, Ohio. In his opening comments he complimented the late Dave Thomas, Wendy's founder, for leaving behind a legacy of consumer choice.You can either get your three-quarter pound triple cheeseburger—or your salad,\ Bush said.Mike Rothschild, professor emeritus in the UW-Madison School of Business, said that our country is in a national health crisis and that what we need are more nutritious food choices, marketed better, to help change that.And despite this national health crisis—obesity and health problems like heart disease—public health workers have only a fraction of the resources needed to fight the uphill battle against the food-marketing giants, he said.
""The food and beverage industry collectively has a $12 billion annual advertising budget devoted almost entirely to promoting products that don't meet federal guidelines for healthfulness,"" said Linda Brugler, nutrition-marketing manager at the Produce for Better Health Foundation.
PBH's annual budget of $6 million is dwarfed in comparison.
But according to Rothschild, marketing is not the only problem.
He said that humans are wired to desire sugar, salt and fat because of their importance to survival. Yet in our society, he said, those things are abundant, and we eat more of them than needed.
""Private-sector food marketers don't just send messages,"" he said. ""They make very appealing products for people to buy that are heavily oriented in sugar, salt and fat.""
That is what people crave and that is where the profits are, Rothschild said.
""On the other hand,"" he said, ""public health is sending out messages telling people not to eat what they really like. And so you've got appealing products competing against messages that are saying ‘no,' and it's a very unfair battle.""
Susan Nitzke, professor of nutritional sciences at UW-Madison, said she is keenly aware of this battle.""Right now as a nutrition educator, I feel like my voice is at one decibel and the commercial messages are at 20 decibels,""
she said.
Nitzke said she is concerned about the way that young adults and college students eat and feels that food marketing is one of the influences on nutrition.
""Many have been accustomed to grabbing food from vending machines and from convenience stores,"" she said.
She said college students should educate themselves about how marketing has changed and make sure they are media savvy.
""It's not just commercials these days that are marketing messages, but it's in the imbedded part of the story line of the movie or the product that shows up during a TV show,"" she said. ""As a consumer, you have to be alert to the fact that people are trying to give you new impressions all of the time.""
Food and beverage promotions around campus and during sports games definitely influence students' eating habits, UW-Madison freshman Sam Hirshey said.
But money is also an issue.
""Students are going to eat what they can get easiest and for the cheapest,"" Hirshey said, adding that the higher prices at the salad bars at university food services keeps many students away.
""In order for people to eat more healthy, there must be an environment where the healthy choice is not only the easy choice, but the affordable choice as well,"" Brugler said.
Rothschild said he thinks that one way of accomplishing this is for public health workers to partner with corporations and develop tasty but nutritious products to market.
But marketing strategies should not just focus on touting the ""healthiness"" of the food, Brugler said.
""Marketing needs to key in on taste, variety, convenience, enjoyment and by the way good for you too,"" she said. ""There is no reason that nutritious foods can't be manufactured and prepared in restaurants to taste good.""
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