Why everyone is so angry at Paula Deen
The short answer is that the public feels deceived. And, from a public health perspective, she blew a potentially valuable "teachable moment."
Why everyone is so angry at Paula Deen
Leah Roman
Filed Under: Ethics | Leah Roman
Celebrity chef Paula Deen. (Associated Press) (Photos: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Today’s post is by Leah Roman, a guest blogger for The Public’s Health. Roman, a project manager for the Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends (FIRST) project at Drexel University School of Public Health, blogs regularly about the intersection of public health and pop culture at “Pop Health.” She can be contacted at lar92@drexel.edu.
By Leah Roman
Last Tuesday, Paula Deen appeared on the Today Show to announce that she had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes - three years ago. Almost instantly, the highly successful Food Network chef was portrayed as a money hungry enemy of the public’s health. Paula Deen is not the first celebrity to conceal a health issue. Michael J. Fox, for example, waited more than five years to share his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, yet he was instantly embraced as an advocate.
So why is everyone so angry at Paula Deen?
In order for celebrities to become valuable public health spokesmen or advocates, they do not have to be perfect. However, they must appear trustworthy, relatable and armed with accurate information about their condition. The reason that Deen has been rejected from these roles is that the public feels deceived.
The deception stems from two key issues:
- First, the health issue on the table is Type 2 diabetes. Given that being overweight is a primary risk factor for the condition, people find it hypocritical that she continued to sell them on fatty, unhealthy recipes. In fact, when directly asked on the Today Show about the contribution of her diet to her diagnosis, she downplayed it completely. Instead, she made a point of highlighting other risk factors like age and genetics. In addition, she has continued to serve as a spokeswoman for high-fat foods such as Smithfield Pork Products and Philadelphia Cream Cheese despite her diagnosis.
- Second, Deen waited to announce the diagnosis until she had signed an endorsement deal with Novo Nordisk (the pharmaceutical company that supplies her diabetes drug). Although she claims that her partnership with the company stemmed from her desire to “bring something to the table when I came forward,” the public isn’t buying it. In addition to appearing motivated by monetary gain, her primary focus on medication is an ineffective public health strategy. This medication – a daily injection marketed as Victoza – does not actually prevent Type 2 diabetes. It simply offers a treatment to those who are already diagnosed.
A thoughtful opinion piece in the Washington Post highlights the “teachable moment” that Deen missed by alienating her audience. Teachable moments are important in public health. They let us identify a time when our audiences will be more open to prevention, education, and intervention because they see its relevance to their lives. Often the identification and sustainability of teachable moments are supported by media reports on the health and lives of celebrities.
Our opinion of Paula Deen aside, we must admit that this celebrity has a strong influence on the public’s health. With multiple Food Network shows and more than 10 cookbooks, she has a large audience that is watching and listening. So she could still be embraced as a spokeswoman and advocate! In order to win back our trust, she must make us believe that her motivation is to help others, not make money. We must believe that she acknowledges the role her cooking has had on her diagnosis. Finally, in order to actually improve the public’s health, she must advocate for a change in modifiable behaviors that will actually prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes – diet and exercise.
What do you think: Do celebrities have the right to talk about their health information whenever and however they feel comfortable? Or do they have a social responsibility to disclose as early as possible – and to discuss it in a way that is most likely to improve the public’s health?
Read more about The Public's Health.
Comments (30)
Paula's job is to sell her show to advertisers. She is not a health professional. That is not her job. You wouldn't expect a dentist to also fix the toilet, or a carpenter to be a marriage counselor. Why would a TV personality be expected to give health advice?— Maia Smith- hey y'all. I almost choked on my fried buu-dar when I read this news story. It's worse than a fox on a hen house roof in the rain! Later y'all!— Bud Fox
- I think Paula Deen has been exposed as a shrewd business woman who cares more about money than her fans. But, she's a business woman who made a calculated decision. If you're angry at her you should make a calculated decision not to support her anymore.— Bud Fox
- How dare paula make me fat. O wait, I am not fat, and if I was it would be my fault. Maybe you only eat the dishes she makes sometimes, and in small portions. People amaze me sometimes.— eagles*one
- As usual, everybody has an opinion, and as usual... Long live Paula Deen, butter or not!— NewfieBoy
- I think the food network should get rid of this fake. STOP buying her magazines, her Smithfield products, her pots and pans, her candles and whatever else she and her "boys" are tying to sell the public. She's getting rich and killing you at the same time with her HIGH FAT recipes !! Get rid of this phony hippo-crit and WAKE UP PEOPLE - Stop making her rich !!— reality in the real world
- Once one says it is nothing except more Food Network balderdash, one has said all that needs to be said.— BEMiller
- @johnnymon - Do yourself a favor and look up anecdotal fallacy or availability heuristic.— dschlier
- To all you who come out and call her a hypocrite, you are the hypocrites, every last one of you. I bet you money that you eat just as unhealthy if not more than what is in her recipes - or you mean to tell me all of a sudden you are the bastions of healthy eating?!? Don't like what she has to say, turn the TV off. Don't like how she cooks, then don't eat like that. Typical negadelphians looking for a reason to complain. Bunch of whiners, go pound sand.— phillies_eagles
- What a Big, Fat Phony she is!! Not that there was ever any doubt about that, y'all!! But saying NOTHING about her diabetes AND continuing to espouse her dangerous recipes to the masses, until such time that she was able to secure a $$$$ deal with a drug company is absolutely disgusting and pathetic, just like the woman.— 5NOT4
- She also expects to get a discount on her insulin shots because she's increasing the profits of the drug companies.— farley
- I am so sick and disgusted by articles such as this; Paula didn't deceive anyone. Unless you are brain dead, there is no way that a reasonable person wouldn't know that the recipes she shills are generally unhealthy and are intended for having one of those 'guilty pleasure' moments - that is to say there is nothing wrong with making her recipes once in a while - not for evryday meals. One of the biggest problems in America (if not THE biggest) is people not taking responsibility for their lives; time to start learning it and living it.— CTL
- Deen is not the first to do this. Chef Paul (who was so large, that he to be wheeled around a stove) went low cal a few years ago, finally admitting that adding a stick of butter to some shrimp might be a health hazard. He attempted to make money selling cook books featuring lower calorie and cholesterol meals. She needs to show some contrition like he did before the public buys into it. By the way, Chef Pauls, "Fork in the Road" is a great cook book.— 42Homestead
- Everything in moderation. Just because she cooks this stuff doesn't mean she eats it everyday in her real life. Look at Martha Stewart, turns out according to her daughter that she was anything but "Martha Stewart." At least Paula Deen is likable.— fleurdelys18
- Poorcarole, you missed the point. You should look up words before you use them, and consider withholding the name-calling until you understand what you are reading. The author didn't even remotely say there was any "correlation" between Paula Dean and Michael J Fox. Instead, she was making a very valid point about two public figures trying to become spokespeople in the fight against their respective disease, noting the distinctions in, and ramifications of, how they went about doing so. Namely that they both initially withheld their diagnosis from the public, but only one suffered a backlash. The difference being that Michael J. Fox didn’t do so in order to line up a lucrative endorsement deal. Her point is that had Dean come forward immediately and acknowledged her disease and her part in creating the problem before seeking an endorsement deal, the public reaction would likely have been very different. Great article!— David Hiller
- Money Money Money--Money!!!! Some people got to have it-- Some people really want it--Do things do things real things yeah! This is the name of the game. Get it no matter what you have to do to get it. Push food that is bad for people--thou the people know its bad for them. I think this song was written already. I guess you forgot it? Why am I not shocked? Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!— A. Martinez
- We love Paula but the criticism is fair. She didn't disclose her diagnosis three years ago because it would hurt her immediately. And then didn't disclose it still until she had a profitable contract in hand. She's fair game as a result, that simple.— PhillySubsMac
- I am 64 years old. I grew up on fried chicken cooked in Crisco from the big blue can, beef, burgers,the best butter made toll house cookies on the planet, sweet tea made with real sugar...you get the idea. Well, I am still here and so is my 89 year old mother.
To all you Paula haters...the same button that turns the television on, also turns it off. And the remote is not permanedntly stuck on the food channel.Paula doesn't "jam" anything down anyone's throat. You think Julia Child's recipes were "healthy"? Please. Take some personal responsibility "y'awll". All y'all in Atlanta might want to visit the legendary Mary Mac's Tea Room(if it's still there). That's what they served...Southern cookin'at its best.
That cooking was here long before Paula Deen, and it will be here long after she is gone.— johnnymon - Dean puts on a phony southern accent to appeal to the lard-addicted.
She pushes her unhealthy recipes for YEARS after knowing that she has contracted the disease as a result.
She hypocritically hides that information until after she signs a lucrative contract with Big Pharma.
It is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY to her.
How republican.— JeffJenk - It's the endorsement deal. If she had just came out with Type 2, the public would be sympathetic. She appeared on Oprah once and when asked about the health risks of eating food she prepares she answered "I'm your cook, not your doctor."...and now she wants to shill the solution after shilling the cause of the problem.— Col. Nathan R. Jessup
- Those recipes were never healthy to begin with. Acting like its a surprise that the older, overweight woman developed Type 2 diabetes is absurd. Just another instance of people not wanting to take their own responsibility for their choices. Everyone has known for years which foods are unhealthy and lead to obesity and related disease. Random TV chefs do not owe it to you to connect the simple dots, any more than Julia Child owed it you 50 years ago.— drbob1
- they lady probably eats a stick of butter total through out her day that doesnt mean we have to.— cuso20
- I'm not mad at Paula Dean although I find her contract with Novo Nordisk to be not only ironic, but in terrible taste. First she contributes to the illness of diabetes and then she profits from the cure. My problem with Paula Dean is that she is totally over-exposed. Her face is everywhere, t.v., the supermarket, Target. How fascinating can one person be? I'm over her Southern sweet-as-pie persona. As as saccharine as her sweets.— DwightinDC
- Funny that no one is really blaming the Food Network or Wal-Mart or Smithfield or any of the other companies she is associated with. Its quite possible that she was contractually obligated to hide her illness. Personally, I do not give a hoot. I am still supporting her. She cooks food that people like to eat. End of story. Just because she can't eat the food doesn't make her a hypocrite. Her cooking shows are about southern, home style cooking NOT diabetic foods.— psyrus
- The only thing worse than her food is that hillbilly accent.— The Selector
- leah you have to be just about an idiot to think there is any correlation between micheal j fox and paula deens diseases. paula gave herself diabetes with her poisonous diet and lack of exercise. then jams it down an ignorant publics throat by calling her recipes home-cookin' and comfort food. she is an evil money hungry pig. micheal j fox has a disease whose onset can not be controlled with proper eating and physical activity.— poorcarole
- Paula could care less about her unhealthy recipes which include tons of butter and sugar. It's all about the MONEY folks...always is. She reminds me of a used car salesman.— dogman5
- She waited until she was going to make money off of her diagnosis b4 going public with her diagnosis. It seems greed was her motivation, how much more money does she need?? If she wanted to keep it a secret she has diabetes is her business, I don't have a problem with that, but to act all concerned now that you are a paid spokesperson,,,beat it Paula, lost alot of respect for you...— bronzequeen
Comment removed.- You don't HAVE to eat what she makes. Take some personal responsibility and stop blaming others for your choices. Paula's passion was food and she has a good life because of it. There are plenty of contributing factors to diabetes.
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What is public health - and why does it matter? Through prevention, education, and intervention, public health practitioners - epidemiologists, health policy experts, municipal workers, environmental health scientists - work to keep us healthy. It’s not always easy. Michael Yudell, Jonathan Purtle, and other contributors tell you why.
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Associate Professor, Drexel University School of Public Health
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Doctoral candidate in public health. Works at Drexel's Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice
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