Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Bacterial coincidence?

I was doing my semi-annual viewing of the CTV National News last night and noticed something strange--and it wasn't that Lloyd Robertson looked disoriented and a little constipated.

The kicker item was about how probiotics might help people with depression and chronic fatigue. Those are good bacteria that are now being pressed into service in supplements and some kinds of yogurt and other packaged food. The story was totally oversold--researchers studied only people with chronic fatigue, so any claims about depression or "other mental disorders" were purely speculative. As well, they only studied 39 people, a pretty small sample. They also failed to do much of a job explaining why having good bacteria in your gut would have any effect on your brain chemistry. And, hey, speaking of your gut: in the commercial break between the teaser and the item was an ad for Danone Activia yogurt, the one where a--how to describe it?--floating projection of a slim bare midriff floats over the stomach of a woman eating yogurt. It's good for you because it's... probiotic.

An eerily well-timed ad. It was also strange that in the examples of products that contain probiotics, Danone wasn't seen or mentioned, although it's the industry leader in shilling the stuff. You would have had to make a special effort to take them out. Was it possible that Danone knew the story was running and asked to be placed just before it? And that the editorial team knew the ad was running and made sure the product wasn't in the story? It seems like a big coincidence.

The other interesting twist is that in January 2008, many media outlets including CTV ran a story about the launch of a class action lawsuit in the U.S. against Danone, that claims the company's health claims for Activia are unproven. Ad Week just reported this week that the company is in settlement talks about the suit. So while Danone tries to make a deal about its dubious health claims, out comes a piece of research demonstrating that probiotics do improve your health--but in your brain, not your gut. So now they'll be able to run ads with Einstein's head floating over your head as you're eating yogurt.

Either way, Lloyd Robertson could use some yogurt.

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