Big Tobacco’s Takeover of American Food in the 1980s Utilized the Same Addiction Playbook That Worked to Hook Smokers, New Lawsuit Claims

When the top-tier ad agency Leo Burnett produced a Cheez-It commercial for its client Kellogg’s called “Taste Test,” it revealed much more about the product than intended.

The 15-second spot shows a group of hysterical tasters who, once they bite into the Cheez-It product, can’t stop and continue to compulsively eat them.

“What have we done,” asks the crazed-looking scientist in the white lab coat, watching the frenzy.

That question may now come before a jury.

In mid-December, some of the biggest names in the food business, including Nestle, Pepsico, General Mills, and Kellanova (the Kellogg’s spin-off that makes Cheez-Its) were hit with a lawsuit claiming that their production of ultra-processed foods is intended to be addictive and “aggressively marketed to children and minorities.”

“UPF (ultra-processed foods) formulation strategies,” the lawsuit says, “were guided by the same tobacco company scientists and the same kind of brain research on sensory perceptions, physiological psychology, and chemical senses that were used to increase the addictiveness of cigarettes.”

Although R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris have since exited the food business, they left behind a legacy for Big Food, described in the complaint as “…taking a very well-evolved marketing strategy to sell things that make people sick and applying it from one substance, cigarettes, to another: UPF.”

For one major PR firm hired to remake the image of a particularly addictive food additive, that’s spot on.

Edelman Public Relations has been working hard for years to rebrand monosodium glutamate for its client Ajinomoto, the world’s largest manufacturer of MSG, having used similar tactics for client R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in 1978.

A document released during Big Tobacco litigation called “Taking the initiative on the smoking issue – a total program,” designed for R.J. Reynolds by Edelman, outlined several ways that “another point of view on the cigarette question” could be promoted. One plan was the creation of a “National Smokers’ News Bureau” in New York, which would “set up interviews, organize editorial briefings…and engage in extensive personal contact with media to develop specific storylines.”

The “storylines” of today, however, aimed at reassuring consumers that ultra-processed foods and the additives they contain are nothing to fear or avoid, are reaching even more shoppers.

One example is the messaging of dietitian Jessica Wilson, who travels the media circuit with her mantra that ultra-processed foods make life nutritionally and mentally enjoyable. Her last dispatch appeared in Slate a few weeks after the lawsuit was filed.

What makes a food “ultra-processed?”

Investigations by Dr. Carlos Monteiro, a professor of Nutrition and Public Health at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, along with other researchers there, led to a first-of-its-kind classification of processed foods called Nova in 2010.

Using Nova, Monterio and others published a paper in 2019 that defines what makes up ultra-processed food.

Ingredients characteristic of ultra-processed foods are either food substances of no or rare culinary use, or else classes of additives whose function is to make the final product sellable, palatable and often hyper-palatable.

Generally, the practical way to identify if a product is ultra-processed is to check to see if its list of ingredients contains at least one item characteristic of the ultra-processed food group. These are either food substances never or rarely used in kitchens or classes of additives whose function is to make the final product palatable or more appealing.

The presence of manufactured flavoring agents, such as MSG and dozens of other additives containing brain-damaging free glutamate, is one way to identify ultra-processed foods. And all of these additives that make a non-food look and taste like real food have been given free rein by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Food and the science of cigarette addiction

The new and unprecedented legal action that has been filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County connects the dots of Big Tobacco’s takeover of Big Food, creating multinational food companies that “get richer (as) Americans get sicker.

By the mid-1980s R.J. Reynolds owned Nabisco and other food and beverage brands, including Del Monte, making it present in “virtually all aisles of the grocery store…”

Philip Morris went big around the same time, acquiring General Foods and Kraft with an executive boasting, “You can now have a complete meal of Philip Morris foods and beverages, followed, of course, by one of our cigarettes”

But beyond just creative business diversification, the complaint tells how Big Tobacco combined its knowledge of flavorings, additives, and addiction with the production of food.

Bombshell revelations include R.J. Reynolds’ Biochemical & Biobehavioral R&D Group that “coordinated design of new cigarette and food formulations, including analyses of flavors and additives that could be used in tobacco and food products, and biological activity resulting from consuming such products.”

Philip Morris even employed a “brain scientist” who ran a “secret…addiction laboratory in Germany” to understand how nicotine affects the brain. That same scientist later joined General Foods and Kraft research departments.

“The purpose of all this research on brain waves and nerve conduction was not to determine how to make UPF more flavorful,” the lawsuit states. “Big Tobacco conducted this research to understand how to hack the physiological structures of the human brain…”

More than just repositories for salt, fat, and sugar (or artificial substitutes), ultra-processed foods, as the complaint calls them, “are fundamentally different than the foods that make up traditional diets.” It summarizes UPFs as “industrially produced edible substances that are imitations of food.”

Citing the unprecedented rise in type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease in kids, which was “formerly a disease exclusive to the elderly and alcoholics,” the lawsuit outlines in detail how the “Defendants got rich by robbing the health of American children.”

As for Cheez-It, despite the package claim of being made with “100% real cheese,” a look at its ingredients reveals it could be the poster cracker for ultra-processed foods.

The case is Bryce Martinez v. Kraft Heinz Co., et al., Case ID: 241201154 (Pa. Ct. Com. Pl. filed Dec. 10, 2024)

November 9, 2023February 22, 2024

Is it news or is it propaganda?

If you have enough money and the right contacts, you too can make up your own ‘news’

Ajinomoto, the world’s largest manufacturer of monosodium glutamate (MSG), and its PR firm, Edelman Public Relations, have joined with CBS to recycle the Glutes favorite propaganda pieces disguised as news.

Aired on both CBS Mornings and the network’s highly regarded Sunday Morning show led by veteran journalist Jane Pauley, as well as a Bay area affiliate station, the productions are straight out of the Edelman/Ajinomoto playbook.

The often-repeated blueprint goes like this:

Use a headline that shows there’s controversy, but not to worry because you can trust that this article/video will give you the real facts:

Yes, MSG has a bad reputation but it’s now making a “comeback.”

“Science” has proven that there’s nothing to worry about!

Things need to be “set straight.”

2. Repeat the well-worn fiction that a 55-year-old letter is responsible for consumers considering that MSG might be toxic. Capitalize on its unique name “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.” Ignore the multitude of studies clearly demonstrating that MSG causes brain damage.

3. Trot out the “Expert,” who talks about “The Letter” and alludes to how it’s been refuted by “decades of research,” without the expert actually citing any.

4. Bring on the “Chefs,” who will be shown cooking up a storm of delicious food sprinkled with MSG and give some to the reporter to taste. “Yum!”

5. Introduce the xenophobic zinger. This is indeed the perfect example of the diabolical genius of the folks at Edelman PR, filling the airwaves with the concept that avoidance of MSG isn’t based on science, but is actually nothing more than anti-Asian hate speech in disguise.

“Ajinomoto established that deep-rooted xenophobia is at the center of MSG’s complicated history in the U.S.” Edelman stated in a 2019 press release. That seemingly crazy concept is still being repeated.

The Edelman team works long and hard at selling the product they’ve been paid to sell. And they have the media connections to make it happen. But despite the constant use of such expensive and wide-spread propaganda, recognition that MSG is harmful continues to be acknowledged by consumers. It looks like growing numbers of consumers are realizing that they are getting sick following meals that include MSG or some other ingredient that contains its processed free glutamate, and that the more consumers know the harder Ajinomoto and Edelman will work to sell us its disinformation.

Interesting thing about CBS, the network also makes itself available to spin news on behalf of Big Pharma. A January 60 Minutes program was identified as “an unlawful weight loss drug ad” for the med Wegovy by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. “The 60 Minutes program looked like a news story, but it was effectively a drug ad,” the group Committee said in a press release. PCRM also stated that Novo Nordisk, which makes Wegovy, paid over $100,000 to the doctors CBS interviewed for the segment.

With big PR firms having the media connections to place the stories they want told to appear as legitimate unbiased features, it should make you wonder when you read an article or watch a program: is it news, or is it propaganda?

March 2, 2023February 21, 2024

Leaked files

The Washington Post is a great source of information. Every once in a while they run a propaganda piece for the glutamate industry that gives us a chance to see if the Glutes have come up with anything to augment their Six Big Fat Lies.

Yesterday they ran “Leaked files reveal reputation-management firm’s deceptive tactics,” discussing a Spain-based company that made millions of dollars using bogus copyright claims, fake news sites and search engine manipulation to remake the online images of more than 1,500 clients over six years. Ajinomoto brags about using Edelman PR. I wonder if they use Eliminalia too.

Reference:

https://restofworld.org/2022/documents-reputation-laundering-firm-eliminalia/

January 24, 2023February 21, 2024

Is it news or is it propaganda?

If you have enough money and the right contacts, you too can make up your own ‘news’

Ajinomoto, the world’s largest manufacturer of monosodium glutamate (MSG), and its PR firm, Edelman Public Relations, have recently joined with CBS to recycle the Glues favorite propaganda pieces disguised as news.

Aired recently on both CBS Mornings and the network’s highly regarded Sunday Morning show led by veteran journalist Jane Pauley, as well as a Bay area affiliate station, the productions are straight out of the Edelman/Ajinomoto playbook.

The often-repeated blueprint goes like this:”

Use a headline that shows there’s controversy, but not to worry because you can trust that this article/video will give you the real facts:

Yes, MSG has a bad reputation but it’s now making a “comeback.”

“Science” has proven that there’s nothing to worry about!

Things need to be “set straight.”

3. Trot out the “Expert,” who talks about “The Letter” and alludes to how it’s been refuted by “decades of research,” without the expert actually citing any.

4. Bring on the “Chefs,” who will be shown cooking up a storm of delicious food sprinkled with MSG and give some to the reporter to taste. “Yum!”

The blog links below (click on the headlines) will give you an idea of how extensive glutamate marketing is, and should leave you wondering whenever you read an article or watch a program: is it news or is it propaganda?

Linda Bonvie

Even the New Yorker parrots the propaganda of the glutamate industry’s pernicious PR campaign with no regrets

WUI: Writing under the influence

Another MSG YouTube propaganda video

Giving credit where credit is due: Writers engaged in spreading the Glutes’ propaganda and the outlets that enable them

Is this propaganda hiding in the business section of your newspaper?

July 3, 2021

Warning about the hazards of MSG can be hazardous to your reputation

By Linda and Bill Bonvie

Being accused of racism these days is no small matter. And those of Asian descent have seen an increase in incidents of racism targeting them.

So, when a reader review at Amazon.com appeared about our book, “A Consumer’s Guide to Toxic Food Additives,” accusing us of “promoting myths rooted in racism,” it was a bit of a shock, to say the least.

This reviewer, whose comment is called the “top” one from the U.S. (also somehow bumping any other reviews into obscurity), was in fact simply parroting information gleaned from various “news” stories appearing across the web.

It may sound crazy, but just by including warnings about consuming MSG in that book, we now were being accused of spreading a “myth deeply rooted in xenophobia.” In effect, consumer protection had somehow become redefined as ethnic bigotry directed specifically at Asian Americans.

You may be wondering, as we were, just where such a bizarre idea could have originated, and the answer is one that clearly shows how much influence PR agencies – especially large, well- connected ones – have over media of all sizes these days.

It stands to reason that manufacturers of questionable additives would attempt to counter warnings about their products with whatever industry-sponsored hype they could devise. But never did charges of “racism” enter into it until the “global communications” firm Edelman Public Relations entered the scene. They are being paid millions of dollars by Ajinomoto, the world’s largest manufacturer of monosodium glutamate, to conjure up the concept that legitimate concerns about the safety of MSG were nothing but racist myths.

Taking a cue from the removal of “misinformed historical symbols,” according to an Edelman press release, the Ajinomoto creative team apparently had an ‘aha moment’ when it coined “xenophobia-born misinformation” in an attempt to divert attention away from any negative science and adverse reactions associated with MSG.

Has it worked? If you go by the amount of media coverage received, such as this headline at CNN saying, MSG in Chinese food isn’t unhealthy – you’re just racist, activists say, this imaginary imagery seems to have taken hold, even filtering down to that “reader review” of our book. But Edelman, despite its ability to have media lists at its beck and call to run articles on how the term “No MSG,” constitutes racism, can’t seem to even monitor its own client list for conflicts of interest.

A question sent to the Del Monte press office about its College Inn broth product, for example, took a surprising turn with a return email from an Edelman representative speaking on the company’s behalf.

A group of products that say "No MSG" on the label.

Being that the College Inn product sports a rather large “No MSG” symbol on the package front, we asked our Edelman contact if, according to their own high-profile campaign, that would constitute the same type of “racism” and “xenophobia” that we were accused of.

But despite several attempts to elicit an answer, Edelman has now gone dark on us. (We wondered if Del Monte would be looking for another PR firm should its executives connect the dots.)

Which only goes to show how even the best-intentioned causes, such as shining a spotlight on racism, can be distorted and manipulated by industry shills to cast other good causes, such as consumer protection, in a bad light.

Only in this case, the fact remains that keeping MSG out of your diet is no more “racist” than avoiding apple pie sweetened with HFCS is “un-American.”

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. And if you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, we’ll put them up on Facebook. You can also reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling