{"id":638,"date":"2020-01-03T15:51:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T15:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/?p=638"},"modified":"2020-01-03T19:32:01","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T19:32:01","slug":"wui-writing-under-the-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/2020\/01\/03\/wui-writing-under-the-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"WUI: Writing under the influence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How our perceptions of what\u2019s safe to eat are swayed by the PR industry<\/strong><\/em>
Guest blog by Linda Bonvie
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For two days in September 2018, the Conrad Hotel in New York City hosted an invitation-only shindig where large quantities of wine flowed, lunch and dinner were served, chefs whipped up dishes in cooking presentations and experts gave talks and demonstrations — all extensively photographed and videotaped.
Leading the event was the Travel Channel\u2019s \u201cBizarre Foods\u201d celeb chef, Andrew Zimmern, who posed with guests for untold numbers of photos wearing his trademark round spectacles perched low on his nose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you took a casual look at the goings-on, it might appear to have been any other well-planned, fancy corporate convention. But it wasn\u2019t. This was more of a boot camp for journalists and bloggers to help them effectively spread the messaging of Ajinomoto, the world\u2019s largest producer of monosodium glutamate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubbed the \u201cWorld Umami Forum,\u201d the affair took place at the mid-point in a ten-million dollar campaign spearheaded by PR giant Edelman Public Relations. Among the goals of Edelman\u2019s client Ajinomoto is to have the press (and eventually, they hope, everyone else) start replacing the tainted name of MSG with the more pleasing umami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From left, Gary Beauchamp, PhD, Mary Lee Chin, MS, RD, Dr. Kumiko Ninomiya, Executive Fellow Ajinomoto, Chef Chris Koetke, Takaaki Nishii, CEO and President Ajinomoto, Tia M. Rains, public relations director Ajinomoto, Ali Bouzari, Sarah Lohman, Harold McGee.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Public relations blitzes, of course, are nothing new. There were plenty of tricky PR tactics spun for the benefit of Big Tobacco. Edelman, in fact, was behind such a campaign, as detailed in the tobacco industry cache of papers uncovered during decades of litigation. Its 1978 document called \u201cTaking the initiative on the smoking issue \u2013 a total program,\u201d designed for RJ Reynolds, outlines several ways that \u201canother point of view on the cigarette question\u201d could be promoted. One plan was the creation of a \u201cNational Smokers\u2019 News Bureau\u201d in New York, which would \u201cset up interviews, organize editorial briefings\u2026and engage in extensive personal contact with media to develop specific storylines.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes a modern-day Edelman storyline travel much further than those in the past, however, is reflected by the sheer number of outlets to which they\u2019re deployed, along with a media that seems more ready, willing and able to cooperate than ever before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dishing out disinformation over dinner and drinks<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Celeb chef Andrew Zimmern and World Umami Forum guest. (Photo Loren Wohl\/AP Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The articles and blogs that were published as a result of the umami gathering all had an amazingly similar ring to them. Authors always seemed to drop in a mention of \u201cChinese restaurant syndrome,\u201d referring to a letter sent to the New England Journal of Medicine<\/em> back in 1968 as the main reason why MSG got a bad rap in the U.S. (one of Edelman\/Ajinomoto\u2019s most oft repeated, fabricated storylines).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the pieces were done more creatively than others, but all managed to drive home specific key points emphasized at the umami event, dutifully repeated by writers of all stripes. But no doubt it was the headlines that made the Edelman folks smug with the satisfaction of a job well done \u2013 most especially the one that ran in the Wall Street Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story, by WSJ writer River Davis, originally appeared in the April 27, 2019 print edition of the paper under the headline \u201cRescuing MSG\u2019s Unsavory Reputation\u201d — one quickly changed online to read, \u201cThe FDA Says It\u2019s Safe, So Feel Free to Say \u2018Yes\u2019 to MSG.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the subhead was altered, adding the word \u201chealthy\u201d in for good measure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Realize for a moment that here we have a top-tier newspaper switching a headline and subhead so it contains a positive string of word parings (safe, healthy, MSG, yes), and ending with a long-used PR\/marketing tactic known as a call to action. That\u2019s when the consumer is instructed to do something that will help sales, e.g., \u201cask your doctor,\u201d \u201cclick here,\u201d \u201ccall now,\u201d or in this case, \u201csay yes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why would the WSJ do that? I attempted to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asking the question in an email to Colleen Schwartz, a communications executive at Dow Jones, I continued to poke around online, soon finding a string of shared MSG stories at the Linkedin page of Edelman SVP of Food & Beverage Gennifer Horowitz.
She had posted several of the articles published after the umami forum, most to rave reviews from colleagues. But what caught my eye was the WSJ one with the \u201cyes\u201d headline, commented on by a Linkedin connection of Horowitz (who previously worked with the Andrew Zimmern \u201cbrand\u201d): \u201cWhat a huge win for Ajinomoto and MSG! Congrats to the whole team!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hmm, what could this huge win be? Might the comment be referring to the headline swap?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took that question directly to Schwartz, asking if the change was made at the behest of Edelman Public Relations. Schwartz emailed back almost immediately, saying she would have a response for me the next day. When the next day rolled around, she said that she needed more time, as she was \u201ccoordinating with colleagues in APAC.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement she finally came back to me with was simply: “Wall Street Journal <\/em>articles regularly run with different headlines in print and digital due to independent editorial preferences and space constraints. In this case, the difference in headlines is noted in the tag online: \u2018Appeared in the April 27, 2019, print edition as ‘Rescuing MSG\u2019s Unsavory Reputation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asking further questions of Schwartz proved useless. \u201cOur statement stands \u2013 I won\u2019t have any further comment for you,\u201d she wrote back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too close for comfort<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the casual reader to know the difference between true news reporting or a writer simply giving coverage to a PR firm\u2019s storyline isn\u2019t easy. In the case of Edelman, its connection to the WSJ is a long and established one, even where its employees are concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, it\u2019s no secret that Edelman NYC brand director Nancy Jeffrey spent 10 years as a WSJ writer. Nor is Edelman\u2019s warm and fuzzy relationship with the paper hush-hush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As quoted in an Edelman website blog, Jeffrey recalls how Richard Edelman (son of founder Dan) would call her during her time at the paper \u201cto meet with a client with a story to tell.\u201d The \u201cEdelman ethos,\u201d Jeffrey says, is that \u201cno one at Edelman ever rises too high to pitch a reporter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for headlines, getting your messaging above the actual story may even outperform whatever the article says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a New Yorker<\/em> story titled How headlines change the way we think<\/em>, writer Maria Konnikova tells about an Australian study that found a reader\u2019s take-away from an article is, in fact, dictated by the headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy its choice of phrasing,\u201d she writes, \u201ca headline can influence your mindset as you read so that you later recall details that coincide with what you were expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utilizing that concept in the digital media age can warp your mindset even more. An article that appeared in the online publication Vox<\/em> a few months after the umami affair, although headlined \u201cBut what does umami taste like?\u201d contained a snippet of code in the page so that when it\u2019s shared online, the headline is replaced with \u201cMSG is the purest form of umami\u2026,\u201d a line also used in an Ajinomoto MSG \u201cfact sheet\u201d and by the Glutamate Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owned media, or a media owned?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Richard Edelman during an interview at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mainstream media, said Edelman president and CEO Richard Edelman during an interview recently at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, is on its way out. He calls the \u201cnotion\u201d that media will continue on as we know them today \u201cfallacious.\u201d And what will replace them? According to Edelman, that will be \u201cowned media,\u201d meaning outlets \u2013 whether they be websites, blogs or even Facebook or Twitter accounts \u2013 over which businesses have complete control of content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As newsrooms shrink, he says, companies are realizing \u201cthey have to tell their own stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But considering how firms such as Edelman can enable companies that can afford a big PR tab to tell their own story anyway, will that really make much of a difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Edelman has a catchphrase, it would probably be the Edelman Master Narrative, a.k.a. \u201cthe most important story you have to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, when your client is Ajinomoto, that \u201cstory\u201d will never include mention of the fact that MSG \u2013 a totally manufactured additive \u2013 is \u201cexcitotoxic,\u201d meaning it can cause brain damage. It won\u2019t disclose how MSG can trigger lifelong adverse reactions in an unborn child when a pregnant woman consumes food that contains the additive. Or that MSG, which always comes along with impurities in the finished product, is not identical to the glutamate in the human body and does not occur naturally in unprocessed foods. You won\u2019t hear that MSG can cause a long list of adverse events (at levels that vary considerably from person to person), which can affect organs from the brain, to the heart, to the lungs to the bowels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do the folks at Edelman know this? Perhaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As reported in Gawker a decade ago, an unnamed PR executive \u201ctipster\u201d told how at an Edelman upper-management training session, attendees were told: \u201cSometimes you just have to stand up there and lie. Make the audience or the reporter believe that everything is OK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an excerpt from \u201cA Consumer\u2019s Guide to Toxic Food Additives: How to Avoid Synthetic Sweeteners, Artificial Colors, MSG, and More,\u201d<\/a> by Linda and Bill Bonvie, to be released March, 2020, Skyhorse Publishing.<\/em><\/p>\n

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How our perceptions of what\u2019s safe to eat are swayed by the PR industryGuest blog by Linda Bonvie For two days in September 2018, the Conrad Hotel in New York City hosted an invitation-only shindig where large quantities of wine flowed, lunch and dinner were served, chefs whipped up dishes in cooking presentations and experts … <\/p>\n

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