Butter is her friend. And diabetes, now it seems. Paula Deen is the American icon of the celebrity chef of bad food. She is looked up to by millions of Americans advocating outrageous recipes, like Fried Cheesecake! She has been morbidly obese and has no apologies about it. Now we hear she has been diabetic for 3 years and has come out of the closet, and WHY? Because she is now speaking on behalf of NOVO NORDISK – the pharmaceutical company which makes the drug she is on to deal with her diabetes.
She has stated publicly that she has no plans to change the recipes, saying, “Like I told Oprah a few years ago, honey, I’m your cook, not your doctor. You are going to have to be responsible for yourself.”
“BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOURSELF.” REALLY, PAULA?
So does that mean she is celebrating the fact she’s diabetic because that’s what responsibility for herself has brought about? And what about the ethics of NOVO NORDISK. Let’s look critically at this absurd – and disturbing – turn of events.
First – Deen needs to dramatically change her own diet. Next, she should be a role model and use this tragic, but totally foreseeable outcome, as a powerful tool to educate her mass public – to all those many Americans who merrily followed her down the path to diabetes.
IS NOVO NORDISK ON DRUGS? They’re certainly drinking the Deen kool-aid…
Second – What is Novo Nordisk thinking? Embracing and cheering on a spokesperson who is a closet diabetic for three years and who has continued to go on TV advocating killer recipes while she herself stayed obese? Certainly there are others who would be ready to say – I see the way – I’m obese and diabetic because of my lifestyle – I’m wrong to have lived this lifestyle and now learn from me. Let’s make a change together. But no! The message now from Deen is ‘I’m obese. I’m diabetic. I’ll get on medications and continue to live as I’ve always had – more of less. Maybe a slight tweak to my diet and maybe I’ll move around a bit more.
Call me a cynic, but in my opinion, it seems NOVO NORDISK knows a good thing when they see it. By choosing Deen, they‘re encouraging more people to become diabetic!
Is this where we are in marketing as a society who can’t afford it at all? This is the most socially irresponsible thing I’ve seen by a pharmaceutical in a long time.
For the record, I’ve worked with many pharmaceutical companies in my career. I’ve seen a very balanced history of advocating lifestyle changes first and if needed medications. I’ve been a participant in telling the proper message. This time – Novo Nordisk blew it. I want to challenge other Pharma companies to step up and fix the damage that Novo Nordisk is creating with Paula Deen as their spokesperson.
My bottom line: Many of our children will now die of diabetes related illness and hence be the a generation who may die before their parents – not because of war, but from heart attacks. 6 million Canadians have pre-diabetes and don’t know it. We as a society need to advocate a better message. Companies who engage in the area of health must become socially responsible in their pitchperson. Novo Nordisk gets a failing grade.
POSTED: Canadian Business Blog – Jan 24-2012
Key Words
Diabetes Paula Deen Heart attack Pre-diabetes NovoNordisk obese obesity Bad food Pharmaceutical preventive medicine executive health scientific testing
