Marketing Food Like No Tomorrow
Marketing Food Like There’s No Tomorrow
One of the regional supermarket chains in this part of the world, in fact the very one my family shops most often, routinely markets pizza in their TV commercials. This particular pizza, and the marketing campaign in which it figures, are both noteworthy in a variety of deeply disturbing ways for anyone who has heard the rumors about the state of either public health (i.e., epidemic obesity, epidemic diabetes, etc.), or the planet (i.e., climate change, water shortages, habitat destruction, etc.). You see, it is not just any pizza.
The pizza in question is called the In-Vince-Ible pizza, presumably both because it is just too “good” to be beaten by any other pizza, and because it is fronted by Vince Wilfork, a NFL defensive tackle currently with the Houston Texans, but known and loved here in Connecticut for his 11-year-run with the New England Patriots. This pizza is the younger sibling in the franchise, expanding the brand established with the In-Vince-Ible sandwich.
The sandwich features a pound of meat, comprising ham, pepperoni, hard salami, and capicola ham. The pedigree of the meats in question is not provided, but given the prevailing norms, one presumes that both cattle and pigs are harmed in the making of this meal. The on-line ad campaign acknowledges that customers might want to share this mega-meal, but more or less taunts them to eat it alone. I could not find the nutrition details for the sandwich anywhere, but since the meat represents some 700 calories, and then there’s the whole loaf of Italian bread, the cheese, the mayo and the rest- it is clearly more than a full day’s supply of food for many in the target audience.
The pizza has a similar profile, and all the same meats, and differs from the sandwich perhaps mostly in its geometry, and by placing a somewhat greater emphasis on cheese.
My concerns here are the obvious ones; let’s start with epidemiology. We do, indeed, live in a world of rampant obesity and chronic disease, both fueled by dietary misdirects and excesses of just this sort. Where the likes of this pizza and sandwich, and soda and donuts and French fries are introduced, health is devastated, and in short order. Where just this sort of fare is removed to make way for more vegetables, fruits, beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and water when thirsty, the improvements in health are stunning. Where this sort of dietary debauchery was avoided in the first place, if only by cultural happenstance rather than foresight, longevity and vitality tend to be very enviable.
As disturbing as the epidemiologic implications of a pound of processed meat for lunch are, a more intimate view of this matter is in some ways even more so. According to his official “specs,” Vince is 6’2” tall, and 325 lbs. That gives him a BMI of almost 42. I have no doubt Vince is monstrously strong and has a lot more muscle than the rest of us, but it does not require a metabolic chamber to ascertain his severe obesity even now, as he continues to play the game. There are plenty of images on-line; search them and see for yourself.
So, do we not care that Vince is severely obese even during his career as a professional athlete, to say nothing of what will become of him when he stops playing? The movie Concussion, and other high-profile attention to CTE has us all concerned, and rightly so, with the blows football players take to the head in service to their craft, and our entertainment. The obesity and metabolic mayhem to which they are subject in retirement may exact a greater toll, yet be too mundane in our culture to garner much concern, let alone figure in a feature film. Thankfully some insiders are attending to it, notably former NFL player Jamie Dukes.
I’ll just go ahead and say it: I am worried about Vince. He seems like a nice guy. I very much suspect his health is a ticking bomb, and retirement will markedly trim the fuse.
As a father, preventive medicine specialist, and the founding editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal, Childhood Obesity, I confess to even greater concern about Vince’s young son, who also figures in the ad campaign. We look on as Vince encourages his son to eat like a man. Alas, this young boy is learning to eat in a manner that threatens to give his generation a shorter life expectancy than ours, and to situate him in a population where nearly one in two adults is diabetic, and he likely among them.
And all of this says nothing about the environmental costs of that pizza and sandwich. The consensus among experts the world over is that the implications of meat-centric diets for everything from climate change, to water consumption, to biodiversity is nothing less than calamitous.
In other words, our culture seems inclined to market food like there’s no tomorrow. I for one worry that consequently- for the planet, public health, and families alike- there may not be.
-fin Dr. David L. Katz;www.davidkatzmd.com; author, Disease Proof; founder, True Health Initiative
