Fructose High

Card source: http://www.someecards.com/card/lets-get-high-on


http://www.someecards.com/  is such a terrific place for funny ecards....

Bringin' out the big guns

Richard Berman, "Dr. Evil," the food industry's "hired gun"

What does it mean when a company or lobbying group hires Richard Berman?

USAToday: "Companies hire Richard Berman to be their public face as they take on what are sure to be unpopular battles."

CBS, 60 Minutes, Meet Rick Berman, A.K.A. "Dr. Evil":  "Berman’s the booze and food industry’s 6'4", 64-year-old weapon of mass destruction. They hire him to front for them in the 'food wars.'"
He's a "a hired gun."

No matter what you think about this successful PR man, Berman has a habit of achieving his goal, which is "getting people to think twice." (source: Meet Rick Berman)

>>How does he do it?
He owns/runs through the for-profit Berman & Company, which is the umbrella company housing over a dozen companies, some non-profit, through which he channels his messages.  Among them: Center for Consumer Freedom, American Beverage Institute, Center for Union Facts.  See the Wikipedia article on Berman for more specifics on each.  Another source for information, however scathing it may be: Berman Exposed.)  These companies take donations from various industry giants, whose interests they support with various press releases, advertisements, etc.  If you take the Center for Consumer Freedom as an example: In addition to "anonymous donations," they take in large sums of money annually from everyone from Coca-Cola, to Tyson's Chicken, to Wendy's fast food chain, and many many more. And as mentioned in a previous blog, this particular non-profit started with S600,000 in seed money from tobacco giant Philip Morris.

>>Something seems fishy here. 

But since this man was trained in law and certainly no novice in PR campaigns,  it can be assumed that he runs a tight ship (from the perspective of legal codes): but, ok bear with the simple-minded American with no legal training for a sec:  how can a non-profit first of all take in millions through donations, and secondly be run by a corporate for-profit umbrella company (whose sole owner, R. Berman, is a very wealthy man indeed)?  Legal loop holes, i guess. 

The status non-profit is justified by CCF on their 990 tax form with the following as the company's stated purpose:

>>What are some efforts in which he played a role? 
Berman's companies have been engaged in efforts to combat groups such as MADD, PETA, major labor unions, and a variety of environmentalist and medical/nutrition-oriented groups; they have fought both raising minimum wage and the Americans with Disabilities Act (on the grounds that both are just too expensive for employers), supported Uniroyal's Alar; supported companies like PayDayLoans;  engaged in a campaign to suggest that the Environmental Protection Agency's "safe levels" of mercury contained in fish is too low; worked to combat smoking bans in bars and protect the rights of smokers (and of course protecting the bottom line of Big Tobacco in the process), and they have also fought the lowering of the legal blood alcohol limits; the list goes on.

>>And Berman's latest:

See also the television ad: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQi6bdUdPTw

"Bizarrely maligned by what amounts to an urban myth"...  only a real pro could come up with a statement like that!

>>Now back to the original question: 

What does it mean when a company or lobbying group hires Richard Berman?

It means that they realize the sophomoric efforts in which they have engaged to defend their interests have not worked; they need to pull out the big gun: Richard Berman. 

Is it just me or is the Corn Refiners Association starting to look ever more like Big Tobacco?

Additional sources used for background research:
http://www.citizensforethics.org/files/Berman%20background.pdf
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_Berman
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/260/006/2005-260006579-02ba11cf-9.pdf (source used for the 990 information)
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/about.cfm
http://www.foodpolitics.com/2009/01/center-for-consumer-freedom-exposed/ (kind of funny that Marion Nestle is no fan of CCF because they cite HER as the primary authority in support of HFCS.)

Center for Consumer Freedom acquits HFCS

OH MY GOD all this time i was wrong.

HFCS doesn't make me sick.  It's my fault my body can't digest high-content fructose products, such as those containing HFCS.  After all, as the CRA has told us, a sugar is a sugar.  The body can't tell them apart.  No idea why the one "corn sugar" makes me sick when none of the others do....  could it be... the fructose content???  OH MY GOD THAT IS ALL A LIE! I AM MALIGNING HFCS! How dare i!

Never mind the fact that i can eat gobs of desserts (just ask anyone who knows me) and not get sick as long as there's no HFCS in it, but if i get more than a tiny amount of HFCS, i am gasping for breath and unable to breathe, with a painful and distended abdomen...  that's my fault.  i am aberrant or something.

What i find interesting is who is behind the ads (you may have seen them on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News or CNBC, or the full-pager featured above in major newspapers): The Center for Consumer Freedom.

Soooo, what's the big deal about that?  Center for Consumer Freedom: don't we want consumers to be free?  Sounds like a good thing.  and plus it's a nonprofit.  that gives it an air of credibility, right?  sure, but do keep in mind that they were founded with money supplied originally by the Philip Morris tobacco company.  And since their creation in 1995, they have backed tobacco companies, fast food chains, and processed food companies. Not sure what "nonprofit" even means given how much their top execs make (think, 8 digit "fees" for management of CCF).  Did i mention the numerous and often sizable donations they get from a wide range of fast food chains, to major processed food companies, etc.

More related posts will follow shortly...