Who told you what to eat today? The power of PR - by Stanley Hurwitz

Stanley Hurwitz, Creative Communications

Marketing and PR are powerful and play a big role in our everyday life. Last year companies spent $200 billion on advertising to get inside your head. Promotional pitches are designed to build “buzz” and the bottom line. Not a new idea: Ancient Egyptians put sales messages on papyrus wall posters. In 11^th century China, merchants played flutes to sell candy. In 19^th century England, companies promoted elixirs and tobacco in papers. The first U.S. ad agency opened in 1840.

Planting ideas to cause you to act a certain way can be blatant or subtle. In the 1959 classic The Manchurian Candidate (starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury), several soldiers are kidnapped during the Korean War. After the war, we learn one former prisoner who became a U.S. intelligence officer was brainwashed by his Communist captors. He’d become a subconscious sleeper agent, a KGB assassin –his actions activated when he sees the queen of diamonds.

In his landmark The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard was among the first to describe another type of “brainwashing”–when consumers buy certain brands due to ads, package colors, product placement, store layout – plotted by clever marketers.

Industry trade groups and health researchers can convince us toward or away from certain foods. Some foods once on your “healthy” list are now on the “avoid” list and vice versa. Research is always evolving, but public perception about what is or isn’t healthy may be based more on marketing than on facts. Are you choosing foods based on a news story?

Are eggs good for you? For years, mixed messages condemned fat content (yolks), praised protein (whites). In 2011, the Journal of Nutrition concluded that eggs don’t contribute to cardiovascular disease. The University of Michigan’s Food Pyramid loves yolks. They contain vitamins A, D, E and K. So eggs are OK!

Chocolate? A 2012 study in Neurology said one chocolate bar per week lowered stroke risk by 19%. The Cleveland Clinic says one ounce of dark chocolate a few times per week is OK. Thank you, flavonoids and antioxidants!

Red meat? Beef has protein, B vitamins, iron, zinc and selenium, but in 2012 The Journal of the American Medical Association concluded “regular consumption of red meat contributes substantially to premature death.” In late 2015, the World Health Organization said processed meats are “probably carcinogenic.” Yikes!

Coffee? Old thinking: growth-stunter, anxiety-inducer, heart disease/ cancer promoter. But now the Mayo Clinic says, “For most people the health benefits outweigh the risks.” A Harvard study showed moderate coffee use reduces liver and heart disease, diabetes, and Parkinson’s. Popular Science reported coffee can make you smarter, burn fat, improve athletic performance, lower dementia risk, extend lifespan. A 2013 Harvard study shows it decreases suicide. It can worsen blood pressure, aggravate insomnia. Caution: Adding cream and sugar to your coffee adds fat and calories.

A Fox News viewer wrote, “If you take all the studies published over the last 20 years and created a menu from what is left, you might be able to eat lettuce, perhaps a rutabaga.”

Stanley Hurwitz, principal of Stanley Hurwitz / Creative Communications, Stoughton, Mass.