« Can the President Fire Himself? | Main | Fox News' Snow to Become Bush Mouthpiece »
Of Trans Fats and Trans Facts
April 21, 2006
Here’s a little example of why companies need to be on high alert at all times when it comes to protecting their brand and their corporate image:
In the op-ed section of Sunday’s New York Times, Nina Teicholz wrote an alarming piece that discussed, in detail, how trans fats found in products like cookies and crackers are contributing to a higher rate of heart disease in the U.S.
Trans fats are the artificial ingredients added to products to extend their shelf lives. These trans fats have replaced the dreaded carbohydrate as the food-product pariah du jour. The op-ed claimed that a person who eats five grams of trans fat each day increases the risk of contracting heart disease from 4 percent to 28 percent.
On the shelves of any grocery store, you’ll see a whole slew of chip and cookie and cracker boxes advertising their “No Trans Fat” mantra.
In her op-ed, Teicholz wrote that “trans fats are also easily manipulated, able to give a Goldfish cracker its crunch, for instance, or make frosting creamy.”
That sound you just heard was millions of American mothers and fathers screaming in horror at the thought that they’d been pumping what’s essentially hardened vegetable oil into their toddlers’ bloodstreams one Goldfish at a time.
Indeed, Goldfish crackers (made by Pepperidge Farm, now a unit of Campbell Soup Co.) are a staple in the diet of millions of toddlers who love their taste almost as much as their aesthetic shape.
Parents who had come to trust the Goldfish packaging that claimed the fishes contained “zero trans fat” must have felt like fools.
Surely, the New York Times must know what it is talking about. Especially in the post-Jason Blair era where circumspection and diligence is supposed to be the priority.
Turns out, the author did have it wrong.
Pepperidge Farm stopped making Goldfish with trans fats in 2004. Anyone could have figured this out by simply visiting the company’s Web site or by simply Googling “Goldfish” and “trans fats” to find this site that describes the company’s about-face on the trans fat issue.
What’s more frightening is that the folks responsible for the Goldfish brand inside Campbell Soup Co. didn’t even know about this attack on their brand. It was only after my firm called to confirm that it no longer made the popular snacks with trans fats on Monday afternoon that anyone knew about the erroneous Times op-ed.
What’s even more stupefying is the fact that bloggers who read the Times op-ed pages on a regular basis were already debunking the bogus trans fat allegations on their own blogs, like Ed Cone's, long before the branding guys for Campbell Soup Co. were even notified (by a third party) of the errant op-ed.
We’ll see if Teicholz and the Times ever correct their error.
But it underscores just how fast information, good and bad, can spread online and how public relations firms must be incredibly thorough and resourceful to protect their clients from misinformation and, just as important, their own lack of surveillance.
Posted by Michael Kempner at April 21, 2006 08:34 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.mwwstraighttalk.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/56