No, I did not leave out the 'social' in the title, but I believe that Pepsi did. At least that's my conclusion from the story in the Wall Street Journal about their test program in Chicago to encourage inner-city residents to adopt healthier eating and physical activity patterns - and not negatively impact their own bottom line [free access]. Having seen corporations and public relations agencies go over this territory many times before (anyone remember Bayer and Wellsburg, WVA?), the story sounded familiar.
- Trying to convince salesmen and store managers who depend on high volume sales of sodas and snacks for their own livelihoods that it is in their best interests to be involved in the program rather than involving them in the early stages of planning the effort. (See 'who's critical for success?')
- Providing a $1.7 million dollar grant to the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children to fund an unspecified obesity prevention effort and whose Executive Director is quoted as saying about the Pepsi effort: "Is Pepsi contradicting itself on some level? Absolutely," he says. "But that doesn't mean what they are doing is completely malicious." [Note to ED: check what Bayer dropped in Wellsburg].
- Vignettes of small exercise classes, building a playground (including picture!) and having health fairs - standard tactics that are pulled out of the PR bag in these situations (trust me, I know).
- And the obligatory 'how this program may have saved my life' feature profile: coincidence that the gentleman is one of those salesmen Pepsi is targeting?
The story also ties this into a broader launch and marketing effort by Pepsi for their new Smart Spot program as well as efforts by other food manufacturers.
This summer, Coke sponsored MegaFest, an Atlanta conference geared to African-Americans, during which it offered 100,000 attendees nutritional advice and aerobics set to gospel music. Kraft Foods Inc. has worked with the National Latino Children's Institute to develop a curriculum on healthy eating and exercise. General Mills Inc. has collaborated with Black Entertainment Television Foundation to offer health information to African-American women.
I suggest that when companies finally get these good ideas, or agencies revisit them for new pitches, that they think about the ‘triple win’ and ask who else other than the corporation, ‘grant’ recipient and a couple of local champions and heroes (who earn the prestige and social influence of being featured in the stories) truly benefit from these ‘test programs’ – aka taking the heat off. Motives get questioned in these CSR efforts because:
- The communities themselves are not partners in the effort, merely passive recipients of the program - a position that undermines any sense of community engagement or commitment to activities other than was has been bought.
- There is no commitment to showing demonstrable positive impacts on health behaviors or the community (forget the longer term morbidity and mortality questions for now) - and they won't even disclose the sales data!
via The Morning Cup [free subscription required]
Technorati Tags: Community Programs, Marketing, Nutrition, Obesity, Pepsi, Physical Activity
Comments