Please cite this article in press as: Darmon, K., et al. Krafting the obesity message: A case study in framing and issues management. Public Relations Rev (2008), doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2008.07.002 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model PUBREL-658; No. of Pages 7 Public Relations Review xxx (2008) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Public Relations Review Krafting the obesity message: A case study in framing and issues management Keren Darmon a , Kathy Fitzpatrick b,* , Carolyn Bronstein a a College of Communication, DePaul University, 2320 North Kenmore Ave., Chicago IL 60614, United States b School of Communications, Quinnipiac University, 125 Mount Carmel Avenue, Hamden, CT 06518-1908, United States article info Article history: Received 15 October 2007 Received in revised form 13 April 2008 Accepted 28 July 2008 Keywords: Public relations Framing Issues management abstract This study examined the application of framing theory in issues management. Using case study methodology, the researchers analyzed message frames used by Kraft Foods in its public response to the obesity crisis, how the Kraft frames were reported by the media and whether Kraft’s approach might help define effective framing and issues management practices in public relations. The study suggested that framing was indeed useful in Kraft’s attempt to manage the issue of obesity. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. The year 2001 provided a wake-up call for Americans regarding the problem of obesity. The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) described obesity as a national epidemic for the first time, noting that 30% of American adults over the age of 20 were obese and another 34% were overweight. Children were faring badly too; 15% of youth aged 2–19 were overweight, up from just 6.5% some 20 years earlier (CDC, 2003a,b). That same year, journalist Eric Schlosser published Fast Food Nation, an exposé of the fast food industry that condemned both the nutritional value of the food served and the parent companies’ marketing practices. These developments signaled a deepening concern about the role of food manufacturers in promoting and sustaining obesity, and related health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. In the midst of this public awakening, Kraft Foods, the maker of such high-fat, high-calorie packaged foods as Oreos and Ritz crackers, spent nearly $465 million in 2001 advertising its products to American consumers (Linn, 2004). Over the next few years, worrisome headlines continued to emerge about obesity. In 2002, the parents of two New York City teenagers filed suit against McDonald’s, claiming that its restaurants failed to clearly and conspicuously disclose the nutritional content of its food, including high levels of fat, sugar, and sodium. As a result, the plaintiffs alleged, the teens’ weights had soared past 200 pounds, causing the onset of diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels. And, in the wake of the McDonald’s uproar, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement urging pediatricians to pressure local school districts to eliminate high calorie soft drinks from school vending machines. The Academy urged physicians to call superintendents and school board members, and “emphasize the notion that every school in every district shares a responsibility for the nutritional health of its students” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2004, p. 153). Although television pundits debated the question of “personal responsibility,” questioning whether one could reasonably blame a third party for weight gain, these campaigns revealed that public opinion did support the idea that the packaged and fast food industries had an obligation to help combat the problem. In 2003, new statistics indicated that the obesity epidemic was “worsening rather than improving” (CDC, 2003c). The CDC warned that “halting and reversing the upward trend of the obesity epidemic” would require a coordinated, society-wide * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 203 582 8974. E-mail address: Kathy.Fitzpatrick@quinnipiac.edu (K. Fitzpatrick). 0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2008.07.002