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Mar 25, 2021 6:54 PM |
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Krispy Kreme’s ‘sweet’ vaccine promotion leads to bitter Twitter war
By Angela Haupt
March 25, 2021 at 8:57 a.m. MST
This week, Krispy Kreme announced a tasty incentive to get a coronavirus vaccination, promising one free glazed doughnut per day to any customer who could show proof they had done so.
The doughnut company’s promotion, which was meant to be a show of “sweet support,” instead sparked a Twitter war for the covid-19 age because it touches on so many current issues: the slow vaccine rollout, health concerns about pounds packed on during the pandemic, fat-shaming and sensitivity over the fact that overweight individuals are being prioritized for vaccination in some states.
Krispy Kreme had thought of the freebie campaign as a kindly nudge to those slow to get vaccinated and a way to help the country as it trudges toward herd immunity. But within days of the announcement, some doctors had taken to social media to blast the Winston Salem, N.C.,-based company, which was founded in 1937 and has approximately 12,000 locations in stand-alone shops and within grocery and convenience stores across the country.
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“Hey @krispykreme, I love that you want to thank people for getting the #covid19 #vaccine,” tweeted Leana Wen, an emergency physician who previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner. “However, donuts are a treat that's not good for health if eaten every day.” She added that having a daily Original Glazed, without otherwise adjusting diet or exercise habits, would lead to about 15 pounds of weight gain by the end of the year. (The same day Krispy Kreme made its announcement, a small study was published suggesting those quarantining at home had gained nearly two pounds per month. In an Axios-Ipsos poll conducted in February, 32 percent of Americans said they had recently gained weight.)
Krispy Kreme, which operates a fundraising program for nonprofits and said it also has conducted covid-related give-aways for health-care workers, teachers and others, is standing by its offer. “Like many sweet treats, Krispy Kreme doughnuts are an occasional indulgence best enjoyed in moderation,” the company said in a statement to The Washington Post. “And we know that’s how most of our guests enjoy our doughnuts. We’re certainly not asking people to get a free Original Glazed doughnut every day, we’re just making it available through the end of the year — especially given that not every group is eligible to get vaccinated yet — to show support to those doing their part to make the country safe by getting vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available to them.”
A study claimed to end the ‘fat but fit’ debate. But it had its own problems.
The doctors’ critiques of Krispy Kreme’s doughnut deal sparked an outraged response from dietitians and others who decried the country’s attitude toward overweight people and how doctors talk to patients with obesity.
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“I’m horrified,” said Elyse Resch, a nutrition therapist based in Beverly Hills, Calif., and the co-author of “Intuitive Eating.” “It’s an oppression. Weight stigma, fat-shaming, fatphobia — it’s oppressive, like every other oppression in the world. And it’s so wrong. We all deserve to have satisfaction in our eating, and having a doughnut is a delicious thing.”
Resch described the physicians’ pushback against free doughnuts as “ridiculous and useless.” She believes that body shaming and weight discrimination have ballooned during the pandemic, spurred in part by research indicating that a higher weight is linked with an increased risk of severe covid-19 illness. (Those findings have been widely debated, and another recent study found that a high body mass index was not associated with different outcomes for covid-19 patients on ventilators.) As millions of Americans become eligible to be vaccinated because they’re classified as obese — prompting public shaming over the perceived advantage — it’s a particularly fraught topic.
“I think it’s really sad that health professionals are putting out the message that eating foods just because you enjoy them is a bad thing,” said Lindo Bacon, a professor and researcher at the University of California at Davis and author of the book “Health at Every Size.” “We’re seeing the message much more intensely that Americans are eating badly and that this is harmful to us, and we’re seeing very strong messages that we’re supposed to be eating differently. Doughnuts can be part of a healthy diet, and they can be part of keeping people happy.”
Vaccination issues aside, weight stigma isn’t new. And, both Resch and Bacon said, fat-shaming often comes directly from health-care professionals. As one Twitter user put it in the wake of the Krispy Kreme controversy, “I’m glad all of Twitter has now had a taste of how doctors speak to fat people” . . . .
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...05a_story.html
Since there are a number of participants on this site who are good at fat shaming, I expect you'll now have your say. But donuts are the alternative to pizza . . . only Krispy Kreme thought of giving away high calorie bribes first. |
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