Our best current advice
Updated May 14

Whether or not Fed Up will (like An Inconvenient Truth before it) go on to achieve wide national release, tons of publicity, and a run in the public eye that lasts until next year’s Oscars, rest assured that we’re keeping an eye on it for you, and making sure that you’re ready to respond if necessary.

Now that I’ve actually seen the movie, I can make a few tweaks to this advice and the talking points.

The movie was fairly heavily promoted, especially by Katie Couric in various appearances, in the days leading up to its initial release last week.  It continues to generate more buzz – just this morning (May 14), the movie was on my local NPR station as a sponsor, and the film isn’t even playing yet in my area, so that must indicate a national sponsorship on NPR.  Also, today’s New York Times ran an opinion piece on the movie by their well-known food writer Mark Bittman – headlined “An Inconvenient Truth About Our Food.”

But at least so far, Fed Up has not seemed to spark a lot of local interest as far as I can tell – I could be missing some of the action (please let me know what, if anything, you’ve seen), but right now it only seems to have fired up folks who already probably subscribe to its thesis.  Preaching to the choir.

I think we benefit from this story coming at the end of the school year and at a time when everyone’s thoughts are turning more and more to summer and vacations.  Of course, this could turn around at any time, so we’ll remain vigilant for you, but for now the film’s largely negative view of school meals does not seem to have created much negative publicity that our subscribers have had to deal with.  Nonetheless, I believe the issue of added sugar will be the next big controversy affecting your programs, so we’ll stay on top of it, and you should, too.

But, for now, no action is really required unless you are asked to respond/comment. We’ve laid a little pro-active groundwork for you by including a big piece on the April menus about the study finding that kids were eating more fruits and vegetables at school, as well as by our emphasis on added sugar on the May menu and in the May newsletter. If you’ve already used those pieces, you’re at least in position to point out that you are aware of the added sugar issue and have taken steps to inform your communities about the problem of added sugar even before you knew about the movie. That’s what we call “getting in front of the issue.”

One weakness in our position is that USDA regulations don’t control specifically for added sugar in our meals.  Therefore, you would benefit by looking at typical meals you serve and identifying where the added sugar is -- and how much -- so you can intelligently talk about added sugar in your meals.

Read over the talking points below, and be aware that these have changed somewhat since I’ve seen the movie, and may well change further as circumstances develop and dictate. We will be monitoring the situation carefully and listening to your concerns, so don’t hesitate to ask for a full press release if you feel you need one.

Should you be asked to respond, keep in mind that it is always acceptable, when a reporter calls, to tell him or her that you are taking care of something right now and to please give you a number to call back in just a few minutes. Then, gather your thoughts and composure look over the talking points again, call us if you feel you need to, and call back promptly.

It’s also acceptable to use the talking points when addressing the media as a group or individually. Get to know the material and try not to simply read, but use the points to refer to and keep yourself on track.

Finally, don’t feel pressured to say more than you know or can accurately say. Stay “on message” and stick to the points below, even if you have to repeat key phrases, and resist the all-too-human urge to blather on. Say what you have to say and then stop – it’s up to them to frame a new question, so don’t let them use “the roaring silence” to get you to keep going kind of aimlessly.

Try to come off as accommodating and eager to help, rather than defensive or trying to hide something.

AND PLEASE – call or contact us if you need more extensive or specific help or preparation.

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