Oh shit. This is so funny I couldn't even make it up if I tried. The USDA has found itself a new mascot. Pinocchio. The most famous liar ever.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am on the whole very happy with the Obama administration, and I am even optimistic about the USDA. But the particular part of the USDA that Pinocchio is representing? Not so much. And if they want to make their ads a little more honest, Pinocchio's nose ought to grow every time he advocates junk-food-lobbyist-influenced nutrition advice (nutrition advice like "Be active," which is not dietary advice at all!).
I highly recommend everyone here watches this video about the swarm of lobbyists drooling over the opportunity to influence the school lunch program. Think about THAT when you see Pinocchio on TV.
Before taking a look at what the USDA has to say about nutrition, take a look at a few op eds by the Center for Consumer Freedom. CCF is an organization founded with money from Philip Morris by Rick Berman, a man so evil that his own son has publicly repudiated his work. CCF's funders are secret, but from leaked info we know they have included the following in the past:
Coca-Cola
Cargill
Monsanto
Dean Foods
Harrah's
Steakhouses: Outback Steakhouse, Ruth's Chris Steak House
Chicken companies: Tyson, Perdue, Pilgrim's Pride
Fast Food: Wendy's, White Castle
Chain restaurants: Applebee's, P.F. Chang's, Max & Erma's, Ruby Tuesday
Dessert: Marie Callendar, Good Humor/Breyer's Ice Cream, Eli's Cheesecake
And what do these companies (through their mouthpiece, CCF) they say about diet?
While there is no clear relationship between soft drinks or fast-food restaurants and obesity, there is an unambiguous relationship between physical inactivity and obesity in the United States.
In other words, you can eat whatever you want. If you're fat, it's because you need to work out. Junk food companies call this "energy balance" (i.e. calories in equals calories out). Nevermind the fact that calories aren't all created equally. The nutrition in a Big Mac is not the same as the nutrition in fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and pasture raised meat, dairy, and eggs even if eaten in amounts that equal the same number of calories.
So now let's see what Pinocchio and the USDA have to say:
The new television, radio, print, outdoor, and online PSAs, created by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, remind parents that healthier lifestyle habits are critical for a child's mind and body and illustrate how much fun it can be to "Eat Right. Be Active." and "Make it Balance." Parents and caregivers are encouraged to visit the campaign's website www.MyPyramid.gov and use the USDA's My Pyramid to assist them in making healthy choices for their families.
Note to Tom Vilsack: "Be active" may be excellent health advice but it isn't dietary advice. Why doesn't this campaign urge parents to make sure their kids eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day instead of just telling them to "Make it balance." The advice the USDA is peddling looks too close to the CCF's position for comfort. And notice that the USDA will never actually tell you to eat less.
I asked Michele Simon, who spoke at Netroots Nation 2008 as an expert on Big Food's slimy marketing tactics, about this and she said:
This is a sad sign that change has apparently NOT come to all of Washington. Teaming up with corporate sponsors whose sole goal is hook kids under the guise of "nutrition education" was a hallmark of the Bush Administration.
In this time of fiscal "responsibility" we should not be wasting more tax dollars on useless and ineffective advertising campaigns. If the new administration is serious about address childhood obesity, it should put its new FTC chairman to work on getting the junk food industry to stop targeting our kids with unhealthy messages. As for the USDA, its time would be better spent getting Big Agriculture out of the way of real reform of our broken food system.
Meanwhile, Tom Vilsack is calling child nutrition a top priority, which is great. And on one hand advertising works. And industry is eager to show us that they can self regulate. But with $1.6 billion spent on marketing food to kids in 2006, the government can NEVER match that. But it CAN regulate it. And it CAN feed children healthier food in their school lunches. And honestly, when you think about it, even if the government had a fat $1.6 billion in its pockets to spend on advertising carrots and celery to kids, wouldn't you rather it put that money into actually providing those foods to kids instead?
-------
Semi-off-topic (but really really funny) - I received an email from a woman at Powell Tate yesterday. If they sound familiar, it may be because of their previous work for the tobacco industry:
Also part of the campaign was a pre-emptive plan, handled by Powell-Tate, to block legislation limiting advertising of cigarettes to children and teenagers, by running a 'information program on smoking' in schools. [7] The essential message was: "Only grown-ups should smoke, so you shouldn't smoke until you are grown-up."
As any psychologist will tell you, this is a highly attractive message for rebellious adolescents, anxious about their masculinity (or femininity) or keen to exaggerate their age and sophistication. They inevitably reverse the logic and read it as: "If I smoke, I’m grown-up and sophisticated."
It comes over as a 'dare'. (Source)
She was writing me on behalf of the Corn Refiners Association (a.k.a. the high fructose corn syrup lobby), about my article on Alternet that mentioned a recent study in which 1/3 of HFCS samples and products with HFCS tested contained mercury.
Apparently there was a second study done - one sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association - that found that the first study was flawed. This second study was done by ChemRisk, a company founded by Dennis Paustenbach. He's an environmental toxicologist and a former Bush appointee to CDC's National Center for Environmental Health. He also testified as an expert witness against Erin Brockovich in her famous PG&E case from the movie. He's made his living defending corporations from claims that their products were toxic or harmful.
I'll leave you to make your own conclusions.