Meet the new face of diabetes. Yes, the self-styled Queen of Southern Cuisine, who is famous for her Food Network episodes where she serves up all manner of sugary, fried and all-around heavy eats, is now the new spokesperson for Novo Nordisk. Specifically, Paula is revealing her previously undisclosed tale as a Type 2 diabetes sufferer, which the drugmaker has dubbed 'Diabetes in a New Light.'
Well, y'all, this is rather interesting, is it not? All this time, Paula can be seen on the Food Network offering dishes that no self-respecting diabetic - at least one who would like to survive a few more years - would be seen eating, let alone making for an audience of millions. Now, though, she is going to be a paid plugger for a company that sells needed treatments for diabetics?
"As the world leader in diabetes care, we are committed to helping people with diabetes live great, fulfilling lives," Camille Lee, corporate vp of diabetes marketing at Novo Nordisk crows in a statement. "We are thrilled that Paula, Bobby and Jamie Deen are part of this initiative that helps people embrace diabetes management in a more positive way."
As Christine Truelove at MedAd News wrote: "Ms. Deen’s blatant disingenuousness about her condition (that she may have been diagnosed as long ago as 2008) and that her own cuisine may have contributed to her condition, plus her recipes shilling her own spice mixtures…seriously? She is not the example I’d want to be holding up as a marketer."
In other words, now that Paula has acknowledged her affliction, it must be alright for untold numbers of Type 2 diabetics to associate her with both Novo Nordisk diabetes treatments and - oh, let's see - fried cheesecake or her famous breakfast donut sandwich that is overflowing with burger meat, eggs and crispy bacon.
To what extent this will help the drugmaker sell more diabetes treatments is unclear. It may well be that many Paula fans will follow her lead and ask for a Novo Nordisk med, even as they gorge on that breakfast donut sandwich. At least the Novo Nordisk team can argue that they are touting a paid spokesperson who really does have the disease in question, unlike the Prinival high-blood pressure ads featuring baseball star Cal Ripken Jr., who did not actually suffer from the affliction (see here), as Forbes notes.
Using a famous face to sell a drug is clearly believed to be a good tactic. A big business has been built around using celebrities to market pharmaceuticals and, not surprisingly, agencies are increasingly aggressive about touting stars - rising or falling - to sell meds (here is one example). And obviously, the drugmaker believes it can have its cake - piled high with carbohydrates - and eat it, too.
Then again, Novo Nordisk may well find itself in the uncomfortable position of being accused of promoting unhealthy eating, assuming one closely watches the heaping plates of food concocted by the Queen of Southern Cuisine. This, after all, runs counter to combating diabetes. And for the pharmaceutical industry, at large, this may speak to the issue of judgment, and also credibility. What do you think, y'all? Is hiring Paula a good idea?
Is Hiring Paula Deen A Smart Move?
- No (82%, 259 Votes)
- Yes (18%, 54 Votes)
Total Voters: 314
25 Comments
Best wishes to Ms Deen - very sad, regardless of how she developed T2D.
Also, let her diet/lifestyle/schtick serve as a warning that there are lifestyle considerations in CV/met disease.
Translation of her "southern English" to standard: (hers) "Southern Cooking is LOVE" really means: "my crap is risky if you fit a certain profile. eat with caution. be smart. realize that lifestyle choices may increase risk for cv/met disorders."
Tony Bourdain deserves an apology from her disgusting apologists.
Let's try to keep this in perspective...Paula Deen is a brand...not a person, per se. She has built an empire on cooking rich, delicious food that the vast majority of people enjoy. At no time has she ever said, "Y'all should eat this everyday" or "Cook like this and don't worry about what you're doing to your health". That's not her job. It's tiresome that as soon as something like this happens everyone wants to blame the messenger...time to grow up people...we're repsonsible for our own health, not some TV personality we'll never meet! Not now or ever did she claim her show to be Lite Cooking or Diet Cooking or anything other than what it is. If Novartis wants to hire her to assist in Diabetes Awareness then so be it...what can it hurt? She's not the first...nor will she be the last person to use her status as a celebrity to help others. I find it interesting that Anthony Bourdin commented sometime ago that Paula Deen was the biggest threat to American Health...all this from a man who smokes. All the fanfare around Ms. Deen's condition does nothing more than support the stigma that somehow her disease is her fault and that somehow larger people are less worthy of sympathy than skinny people.
Why the titled that reference a specific demographic in the US. Why not "trailer trash" reference. Yeah...you know what you meant to communicate...so don't get sensitive or defensive.
Hi Bryan,
Thanks for the note and I understand your point. I was riffing on what Paula Dean often says, which is "Y'all." From what I gather, that's one of the things she's known for - along with her interesting recipes.
But I did not intend to malign anyone who uses that expression. In fact, I use it sometimes, even though I'm originally from Brooklyn, where lots of other expressions can be heard. In any event, no, I'm not feeling defensive, but I hope you don't take it the wrong way.
Regards ed
@John - it's Novo Nordisk, not Novartis. And Anthony Bourdain quit smoking years ago...although he still slams down the booze with hedonistic abandon...
Sort of reminds me of the American Academy of Family Physicians’ six-figure alliance with Coca-Cola to fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy's consumer health and wellness website FamilyDoctor.org.
See “Coke costs American Academy of Family Physicians some members,” USA Today, November 4, 2009, www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-11-04-doctors-coke_N.htm.
What sort of celebrity endorser could a manufacturer of diabetes medications be expected to have? One who sets an example of demonstrating lifestyle changes, such as better exercise and diet, that lead to decreasing intake of medications?
@dzieczko...thanks. Duh...I meant Novo...not sure why I put Novartis.
Hedonistic Abandon...I'm so stealing that and using it in multiple situations!
Hey Bryan, you obviously never spent time in the south, as I did in the mid south during part of my postgraduate education. They are not ashamed of their accents at all. In fact one of my lab techs at UT Memphis told me that the way you define a southerner is someone who says sh*t with five syllables.
I'd go on, but it's time for my Moon Pie and RC Cola. Lighten up, bro.
Maybe someone will sign up Joe Camel to promote oncology drugs? Always knew I was meant to be in marketing!
Mark, don't forget about Captain Kirk:
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show/id/Full-Speed-Ahead_6210
Hey y'all! I'm pretty sure Bryan B. was referring the caption on the video, not Ed's title.
Watch the video - when it ends there are more choices, like Paula eating a lasagna sandwich. My children have requested that I make that for dinner soon.
as a European I am really, really glad that this kind of advertising is strictly prohibited over here. that monstrosity of pharma advertising in the US is a great warning to other nations.
Well, I think that the management of the Novo Nordisk is taking care of their own business while hiring Paula. You can call it market expansion strategy. Since her regular customers have an increased possibility of developing diabetes they might remember the company that their favourite cook promotes when the doctor diagoses them with the disease.
@john
"All the fanfare around Ms. Deen’s condition does nothing more than support the stigma that somehow her disease is her fault"
so if Bourdain was diagnosed with lung cancer you wouldn't think his disease was his fault?
Unfortunately, I think it is a smart move for Novo Nordisk to have hired her even though she is a lousy role model and contributed to caused?) her diabetes with her diet. People who want to eat like her, which seems to be the majority of the U.S. judging by waistlines, will take her endorsement as a green light to pop a pill (or whatever) and continue with their behavior.
As for her contention that she did not come out with her diagnosis until she could offer "hope"--baloney. She is a cheap opportunist who did not reveal her diagnosis until she had a deal in the bag to shill a product. Rest assured, Paula knows that whatever customers she will lose based on their realization that her cuisine causes disease will be more than made up for with her "easy" solution that lets people continue with their ways with impunity (so they think).
NVO 119.33 +0.490 (+0.41%)
If ALL we have to worry about is Paula Deen and "Y'all", that's peace in the world.
Yes, pinaceae, I'm sure glad that when I go to Paris I don't have to watch those offensive American style DTCA ads. I only have to watch those offensive perfume and lingerie commercials featuring female frontal nudity and other unmentionables that we would never show in the United States. I'm sure you know what they say about people whom live in glass houses, etc...
Original,
Okay, I bite, "pinaceae" are large trees. Now make it come together.
Steve, you mean these guys? If so it will take a while to make the connection.
Pinophyta (Gymnosperms: Pinophytina. The Pinaceae are resinous trees or rarely shrubs comprising about 9 genera and 225 species found mostly in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The leaves are spirally disposed and are linear and needlelike. The male or microsporangiate strobili are small, terminal, or more often clustered along the stem axis, and consist of many papery microsporophylls, each with two microsporangia on the lower surface. The pollen grains typically have two, bladderlike wings. The female cones or megasporangiate strobili are woody and often large, consisting of many ovuliferous scales, each with a pair of adaxial ovules and a more or less distinct subtending bract.
John,
You can't *steal* hedonistic abandon :-) It's an experience. That's like saying you can steal from me what I experience when I eat a lasagna sandwich....
700,000 words (and counting since we continue to add new words like *taco*) in the English language - "hedonistic abandon" was pinpoint accurate - easy to do with 700,000 words...enjoy!
@pinaceae - pharma advertising is just another way for cheerfully sociopathic, *slam-dunk* D grade-students to get theirs from the river of $$$$ people will always pay the shamans for delivery from a painful death...
Kudos to you for recognizing USA *advertising* for what it really does, politically:
"....Totalitarian regimes claim jurisdiction over the whole life of the society and make demands for change that so violate internalized values and habits that inhabitants flee by the tens of thousands . . . .”
Original,
This looks like we may be dealing with a tree (Paula). But that's not bad, as trees don't have cholesterol. And, glucose is not found all that often in plant life to be that threatening. And I am not referring to sugar cane or sugar beets.
@original industry insider You said: "Yes, pinaceae, I’m sure glad that when I go to Paris I don’t have to watch those offensive American style DTCA ads. I only have to watch those offensive perfume and lingerie commercials featuring female frontal nudity and other unmentionables that we would never show in the United States. I’m sure you know what they say about people whom live in glass houses, etc…"
Oooh, God forbid you have to go the Paris and see..GASP!...frontal nudity!!! How offensive! Seriously, the French can show those types of ads because they aren't sexually repressed like Americans.
Rock, please remember to give thanks to God for forgiving you for harboring sinful thoughts when you hit your knees to pray before bedtime this evening. I know that I will be praying for you.
God Bless, OII