The physical activity and nutrition-related corporate social responsibility initiatives of food and beverage companies in Canada and implications for public health

Abstract

Background: As diet-related diseases have increased over the past decades, large food companies have come under scrutiny for contributing to this public health crisis. In response, the food industry has implemented Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives related to nutrition and physical activity to emphasize their concern for consumers. This study sought to describe the nature and targeted demographic of physical activity and nutrition-related CSR initiatives of large food companies in Canada and to compare companies who participate in the Canadian Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI), a self-regulatory initiative aimed at reducing unhealthy food advertising to children, with non-participating companies. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016. Thirty-nine large food companies, including 18 participating in the CAI, were included in the study. The webpages, Facebook pages and corporate reports of these companies were surveyed to identify CSR initiatives related to nutrition and physical activity. Initiatives were then classified by type (as either philanthropic, education-oriented, research-oriented or other) and by targeted demographic (i.e. targeted at children under 18 years or the general population). Differences between CAI and non-CAI companies were tested using chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: Overall, 63 CSR initiatives were identified; 39 were nutrition-related while 24 were physical activity-related. Most (70%) initiatives were considered philanthropic activities, followed by education-oriented (20%), researchoriented (8%) and other (2%). Almost half (47%; n = 29) of initiatives targeted children. Examples of child-targeted initiatives included support of school milk programs (n = 2), the sponsorship of children's sports programs (n = 2) and the development of educational resources for teachers (n = 1). There were no statistically significant differences in the number of CSR initiatives per company (CAI: Mdn = 1, IQR = 3; non-CAI: Mdn = 0, IQR = 2; p = .183) or the proportion of child-targeted initiatives (CAI: 42%; non-CAI: 54%; p = .343) between CAI and non-CAI companies.

Noncommunicable Diseases Prevention Policies and Their Implementation in Africa: A Systematic Review

“…Compared to the health sector, sectors like trade and industry were unaware of their potential contributions to NCD prevention; NCD prevention was assumed to be a health sector issue that must spearhead policy development to address these risk factors [ 43 , 59 , 62 ]. Supporting the overall finding of the current study, a geopolitical analysis of 151 countries on NCDs policies implementation reveals that low resourced countries in Africa ranked bottom 20 by the cumulative implementation of NCDs policies [ 44 ], contrasting high resourced European and western countries where the majority of established NCDs policies are implemented [ 44 , 63 – 66 ]. This might result from a lack of good governance and political commitment, scarce well-trained human capital to design and implement strong NCDs policies, high rates of healthcare workers brain drain, and mounting tolls of premature NCDs mortality in Africa compared to other world regions.…”

"Part of the Solution:" Food Corporation Strategies for Regulatory Capture and Legitimacy

“…While appeasement of public health concerns is important enough, the process of engagement and relationship building has involved food corporations trying to reconstruct themselves as health actors, often co-opting the language and discourses of health and blurring their agency in new and rather profane ways. For example, we have seen a raft of health promoting strategies launched by food corporations, involving the stretched combinations of concepts and terms such CSR, social environmental and health, the triple bottom line, and CSR initiative names such “Help Hunger Disappear,” “Healthy Living” and “Good Food, Good Life Community Program.” 116 Public health researchers have variously translated these as “health branding,” 117 “public health CSR,” 77 “CSR health-related activities,” 118 corporate “health and wellness programs,” and “corporate health promotion.” 6 Herrick 119 is surely right in labelling these moves, collapsed terms and self-labelling as the “strategic appropriation of health by CSR;” but it is more than this. It reflects how corporations have sought to colonise processes, discourses and institutional forms of behaviour in health by emulation and assimilation.…”

“…For example, we have seen a raft of health promoting strategies launched by food corporations, involving the stretched combinations of concepts and terms such CSR, social environmental and health, the triple bottom line, and CSR initiative names such "Help Hunger Disappear, " "Healthy Living" and "Good Food, Good Life Community Program. " 116 Public health researchers have variously translated these as "health branding, " 117 "public health CSR, " 77 "CSR healthrelated activities, " 118 corporate "health and wellness programs, " and "corporate health promotion. " 6 Herrick 119 is surely right in labelling these moves, collapsed terms and self-labelling as the "strategic appropriation of health by CSR;" but it is more than this.…”

“…The spectrum of industry strategies that fall under what can be loosely termed the “part of the solution” umbrella is broad, and available analyses differs in terms of what are included or excluded from typologies of this strategic approach. 5 , 16 , 27 , 28 Among the strategies of co-option and appeasement in the food domain we would point to the importance of product reformulation, nutrition labelling, restricting marketing to children, nutrition education, the removal of unhealthy products from schools and promotion of physical activity. These are both important marketing strategies and non-market strategies that give legitimacy to the firms involved, creating, again, a perception of good health citizenship.…”

Supply Management 2.0: A Policy Assessment and a Possible Roadmap for the Canadian Dairy Sector

“…Tariffs create deadweight economic loss according to a study entitled “The Annual Loss to Canadian Society Caused by Supply Management of the Dairy Industry” by Kelly Davey. Supply management of the Canadian dairy industry results in a roughly CAD 123 million in deadweight loss to the society annually [ 43 ]. Davey’s calculations used data from the 1997–1998 data year; more recent calculations are yet unknown.…”