-->Healthwashing: The New Greenwashing
We’ve learned about greenwashing over the years: a company represents a product as eco-friendly when it’s really not. They might change the name, or slap a label on (possibly just completely made up by the marketing gurus), add a splash of green to the packaging and tell us it’s “good for us, good for the planet,” and then charge us more for the privilege.
In greenwashing, these claims are vague or flat-out lies. The product hasn’t been changed at all, or it’s just been “re-imagined” as greener by folks interested in making more money. If you’re a greenie like me, you are constantly navigating the landmines of eco-friendly products that aren’t. Eventually you find a few trusted and true brands and stick with those.
Now, we’ve got healthwashing.
Pressure from the federal government, from “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” TV show, and from consumers becoming educated has lead to a new type of deceptive advertising: healthwashing. This isn’t the food industry trying to accommodate consumer requests, it’s their chance to cling to to the old (and really profitable) system for as long as they possibly can before they’ll be forced into healthier practices. (At least I hope that’s what is going to happen.)
Healthwashing is introducing a product as being healthier for you than it actually is. Here’s a perfect example.
Domino’s Pizza recently introduced Pasta Bread Bowls. The company and their PR staff spoke with an AOL reporter who dutifully reported that the entire dish was only 670 to 740 calories per meal, which included both the pasta and the bowl. The reporter was skeptical, checked several times, and was assured every time that the calorie and nutritional information was accurate. WRONG. After a few weeks, “new” nutritional information was released and the bread bowls are actually 1,340 to 1,480 calories with a whopping 30 grams of fat!
That’s healthwashing.
Here’s another example: soda companies pulling regular soda from school vending machines and replacing them with the just-as-high calorie / sugar content “sports” drinks.
Want even more forms of healthwashing?
- Repackaging “serving size” so that the calorie and fat grams appear smaller
- Adding buzz words to a package that make it appear healthier than it is
- Adding pictures of farms and happy animals when that’s not how the food is actually created
- Adding enough organic ingredients to get the USDA label but then using chemicals to “enhance” the flavor
Here’s how you can avoid healthwashing:
- Stick to the outer perimeter at the grocery store. If you don’t buy food with packaging then you can’t be deceived by it.
- Start supporting local organic farms; there is always a need for pest and crop management but there are better ways than others. Organic farms, especially local ones, will use the healthiest methods to produce food for you.
- Educate yourself by reading food blogs that are geared towards organic, local, sustainable or slow food. They are the watchdogs right now for consumers and will have information to keep you in step with what’s going on.
What do you think? Are you as appalled as I am at healthwashing?
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Healthwashing is something I’ve never heard about before! It is pretty appalling that the people that market these foods are trying to deceive people who are trying to eat healthier. I have really started to incorporate more veggies and fruits in my diet and you’re right – sticking to the outer perimeters of the grocery store is a safe bet. I’m going to check out the true food movement and slow food sites now!
Thanks Susan, appreciate the comments. I wrote this post to help get the word out. Thanks for sharing. :-)
I didn’t know there was a term for this, but I know what you’re talking about and can’t stand it! Lately my biggest annoyance is the commercial for Nutella, where the mom talks about how adding Nutella gets her kids to eat healthy things like strawberries or whole grain toast. While I can imagine that most food would taste better slathered in chocolate-hazelnut creamy goodness, it’s not a method I believe in for getting my family to enjoy healthier foods. I subscribe to “everything in moderation” so I certainly think a little Nutella here and there is fine, but I think it’s very deceiving and irresponsible to try to convince the public that it’s healthy in any way.
I had never heard of this either. Although deceptive advertising doesn’t surprise me. As you say, the best is to buy from organic farms. Here in France, we buy all our veggies and fruits from the farmers’ market, which is open year round. I plan our meals around vegetables, with organic grains and meat (for my son and hubby who aren’t vegetarians) cheese (the French love it) and fresh bread bought daily. You have to spend a bit more time on meals, both on planning and cooking, but it’s worth it.
and sadly, A LOT of people fall for it :(
I’ll stick to unprocessed, natural foods and hitting my local farmers and fruit stands :)
Laura, I think in the end you’re not spending more time on meals. If you factor in travel time and wait time for “fast food” it’s not all that fast. I visited friends in Paris for a week and loved the local market and the bakery. And I came home 2 pounds lighter despite eating my happily from one end of the city to the other. :-)
Tara, this is a Michael Pollan thing. If the food doesn’t have a label on it, then you can’t be duped by it.
Thanks for the comments,
Lisa
It is appalling and this is definitely an instance where the government should step in, get involved and make this sort of thing illegal.
It seems as though this sort of advertising should be illegal.
While I understand the thought process behind greenwashing and healthwashing it seems like it is only a matter of time before someone hits any one of these companies with a class action lawsuit for misleading advertising.
What you’re describing is deceptive food product labeling, a very clear term. Examples:
1. Small bags of potato chips are listed as having 2 or 3 servings when the vast majority of those bags are eaten at one sitting by one person. Per-serving nutrition information should be based on how the majority of people actually use a product.
2. Nutrition components should be listed by milligrams and not grams. Product labels should not be allowed to claim 0 grams of some component (like trans fatty acids) whenever there are less than 500 milligrams of the component per serving. Insult is added to injury when the servings-per-container number grossly underestimate the amount of product consumed.
Your thatsfit.com appears to be an example of #1. The Dominos story you relayed appears to be rooted in a misunderstanding in the number of servings and calories per serving in the Dominos pasta bowl. The Dominos rep originally thought the calories was total for the product, but it was total per serving.
For deceptive labeling problems, all sorts of disruptive social media could be used. Create an iPhone/Android app that can scan the UPC and give the “dirt” about product:
1. XXX potato chips claim 2.3 servings per bag, but when’s the last time YOU ate one of these bags in 2.3 servings?
2. This product contains 340 mg of trans fat acids per serving (and 2.3 times that if you eat it in one serving).
3. Noting non-healthy ingredients in a product with an “organic” certification.
The term “deceptive food labeling” is clear. I see no reason to try to introduce some new word like “healthwashing” that would take years if not decades for people to try to understand.
I have no problem with companies trying to spin their product’s image however they like. If the marketing on a product is so far off that it’s absurd, people can satirize those absurd promotions. An iPhone/Android product-reporting app could also have crowdsourced satire. Laughter may be the best medicine to get a company’s marketing and promotion in line, and social media is a great untapped resource.
Tommy and Rich P. I supposed this is somehow illegal but what happened in Domino’s case is that they got the message out, had a big media blitz with all the wrong #s plugged into the news stories and then did a mea culpa a few weeks later that didn’t have as much of a splash. Was that on purpose? Who knows, should it be punished in some way. Yes. Will it be, probably not …
So the companies know they can get away with it and they are. It will only take monumental pressure and consumer demand to get them to change. Has to be both.
Lenny thank you so much for your thoughts and your are spot on as far as nutrition labelling is concerned. I only have one quibble with you and it’s over the “marketing” of deceptive food labelling” vs. “healthwashing” One is easier to remember and to put out there. Healthwashing is reinforced from whitewashing and greenwashing so people are familiar with the term and it’s also I think a little more encompassing than “deceptive food labelling” there’s a few more tricks up their sleeves with healthwashing.
It is just my opinion though and I’m glad you shared yours … please feel free to comment back. Technically I agree with you, but from a get the message out there point of view I think healthwashing will get more traction. :-)
Lisa
Thank you for your encouragement, Lisa. We are in agreement that deceptive food labeling is a bad thing. On a food label, zero should really mean zero. Portion size should be related to how a product is actually used. I cannot imagine that anyone other than lobbyists in the food industry would disagree with those simple labeling concepts.
On the other hand, complaining about what imagery, vocabulary, fonts, kerning, melodies, and lyrics a company uses to promote their product sounds like a very slippery slope. A lot of the praise or condemnation of a product’s marketing would be in the eye of the beholder. Unlike clarifying nutrition labels, nothing like that could ever possibly be codified into law. Also, strangely, your term “healthwashing” would seemingly exclude any sort of marketing that was deceptive but the deception wasn’t health-related. Aren’t you also outraged when a product wrongly implies that it will help you get the girl/get the guy?
Product labeling and product marketing are two fundamentally different concepts. IMHO, trying to glom those two things under a single label sounds like a bad idea. And I had no idea what the word meant when you used it. I thought it was about cleaning your yoga-mats between classes. “Health” has a much broader definition than simply nutrition, but all of the examples you give are related to nutrition. Why not target it precisely and call it “nutritionwashing”?
I trust in the wisdom of the general public to know to look at food labels. And I think the Internet is a great untapped source to serve up even more information about the nutrition of food products. Our toys can scan UPCs and serve up info for all kinds of products; the time has arrived for the same to happen to food UPCs.
As a consumer, I’m also naturally skeptical when someone tries to introduce or promote a new word. The .com, .net, and .org flavors of that word were snapped up on May 10 of this year. AFAICT, they were not bought by you. In the spirit of this discussion, I’m sure you agree that skepticism of promotion and marketing is completely appropriate. Also, all of the domains starting with “nutritionwashing” are still available!
Finally, I’m a bit mystified why you think some law was violated by Dominos or that we need some new law. Did the AOL reporter wait for the official nutrition labels to be officially released before they published their story? If not, maybe that’s the lesson that reporter should take away from the error: don’t report on the nutrition of a product until the nutrition labels have been officially published.
Lenny,
Thanks again for checking back in. I had to laugh when you thought healthwashing was cleaning yoga mats but I know what you mean and how the term could be misconstrued.
The word is NOT mine, but has a few references on the internet. It resonated with me and I thought it might be a way to get the message out there. I’ve been watching the food manufacturers over the past few months announce “health” initiatives for their products and how they are slanting things in a certain direction to make the products appear healthier than they are.
I am not sure if the announcement was made before the food labels came out for Domino’s but they certainly misrepresented their product as healthier than it is. At the very least they are guilty of the potato chip serving size you mentioned. So would still be considered healthwashing to me.
As far as the average consumer reading the labels, I, sadly, don’t think they do. I think most consumers just grab based on packaging. Otherwise we’d only need brown paper wrappers with predominantly displayed food labels in the stores ;-)
I’m sure I could dig up some studies on people being swayed to buy butter if there’s a farm or a cow on it versus just fonts.
Thanks again for the comment and sparking a great discussion! I really appreciate the exchange.
Lisa
Great term! :)
It’s a great topic to expound upon, it comes up all the time. The problem is people think in relative terms too often. Here is good blog explaining this, as it applies to money.
http://www.mymoneyblog.com/price-relativity-and-the-search-for-comparisons.html
The same goes for food; you say this grilled mcchicken has 30% less fat, you immediately think it’s gotta be good for me, but it’s just 30% less fat that extremely bad for you mcfriedsomething or other.
People have very little concept of what is and isn’t healthy, so they have to rely on relative values. If you said, 10x the calories of an apple, or equovalent half a stick of butters worth of fat, they might be a bit more turned off.
Another great set of graphics that will blow your mind.
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slide/worst-water?slideshow=184612#title
Enjoy that life water, or sugar water as the case maybe.
AO
Oh Gd! I know and even I got sucked into the Vitamin Water. Drank it for a few months until I looked at the label, gasped and put it back on the shelf. Sheesh. And I certainly know better!
I think what I find the most appalling is the lack of moral compass/ value system in the businesses that allow for such deception. Whether it is to lose weight, help the environment, have a healthier lifestyle, or a combination of these reasons and more, many consumers are trying to eat better. Some businesses should really consider re-evaluating their ethical stance. I for one am often swayed toward/away from a product/service if I feel they are “stand up” people or not.
Have heard of the deceptive practices, but never the term. Also laughed when Len thought it had something to do with washing yoga mats. Shopping the perimeter great tip. Another one of my favorites is to advise folks to eat foods without a label. You still should be concerned where the food comes from, but all in all it’s a pretty safe bet that what you see is what you get. It’s pretty hard to manipulate the nutritional information for an apple, eggplant or tomato…
Hi, Lisa. You didn’t address my question: “Health” has a much broader definition than simply nutrition, but all of the examples you give are related to nutrition. Do you have examples of “heathwashing” that have nothing to do with nutrition? If so, please provide. If not, please explain why you don’t resonate with a more precise term like “nutritionwashing”.
The point is that “healthwashing” is not an obvious term like “deceptive nutrition labeling”. There is value in using a term that can be understood with no further explanation.
You said: “I’ve been watching the food manufacturers over the past few months announce ‘health’ initiatives for their products and how they are slanting things in a certain direction to make the products appear healthier than they are.”
That points to my exact objection. The point of marketing is to make a product more appealing. Customers understand there are rules for what appears on the label and different rules for what appears elsewhere. “Healthwashing” is in the eye of the complainer, and we would all have a different point of view. I could show you an example of what I’m certain is “greenwashing” where I’m equally certain you would disagree with my assessment.
You said: “As far as the average consumer reading the labels, I, sadly, don’t think they do. I think most consumers just grab based on packaging. Otherwise we’d only need brown paper wrappers with predominantly displayed food labels in the stores ;-)”
That was done in the 1984 movie “Repo Man”. The grocery store scene shows the generic food labels on the shelves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9k09WPpNeo (warning: crude language). Strangely, the society of “Repo Man” still seemed to have a problem or two.
Consumers do know about the labels — when they care. I have no idea what you think the term “healthwashing” would have; I am skeptical. What measurable impact has the term “greenwashing” had on our society?
Rather than some newfangled term, I’m far more interested by what’s possible with having more nutrition information available. Mobile applications appears to be a great untapped territory. Mobile apps that could scan the UPC on the bag of Doritos and tell you exactly how many mg of trans fatty acids were inside could open some eyes.
Hi Lenny, Brilliant that you brought Repo Man into the conversation! :-) I have to say at this point let’s just agree to disagree. You certainly don’t have to use the phrase and if it perchance takes off in the vernacular then you can rue the day and point your finger at me. :-)
I like it, I think it works. I know what you’re saying about a broader perspective not including nutrition and I could probably dig around and find a few. A plastic outdoor toy that promotes “exercise” but is made with petroleum product and loaded with a heavy carbon footprint and the thing is so cheap it just breaks after you use it twice anyway. I would include that in “health washing.”
Thanks for returning to the post and addressing your concerns. It is truly appreciated. I like a good healthy dialogue, you always learn a few things.
L–
Great post! Unfortunately people fall for this deceptive labeling all the time. The hospital I work for recently replaced all the junk food and soda in the vending machines with “healthy options.”. Now the machines are filled diet sodas, high-sugar juices and sports drinks, and tons of “low fat” chips/pretzels/cookies that all have about 3 servings per bag. Why not just sell fresh fruits and vegetables!?
and you’d think a hospital would know better too. That’s the problem, regular people trust schools and hospitals to make smart decisions for themselves and their children and they just don’t … thanks for sharing Jenna :-)
I am definitely as appalled as you are! There is nothing more frustrating than all the hype and misinformation about what we are consuming. We have to take it upon ourselves to get what we need!! Supporting organic farming and shopping around the outside of the store is definitely safer. Too many people trust what the advertising says. Great post!!