Dark PR by Grant Ennis

Overview

My interest in the Commercial Determinants of Health has grown over time, particularly the mechanisms by which large corporations influence consumption patterns, behaviours, and ultimately, our health. These mechanisms extend beyond supply chain manipulation and global financial practices; they also encompass the deliberate shaping of public opinion and discourse. 

Grant Ennis's thought-provoking book, Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Harms Our Health and the Environment (Daraja Press) delves into this intricate realm of influence. Ennis examines how corporations' disinformation campaigns infiltrate our food environments, living environments, and even our planet's atmosphere, leading to a cascade of health and environmental consequences. 

This page contains a review of the book along with some highlights of the content and related resources for interested readers. 

Book Review

About 10 years ago it was announced in my local newspaper that the Christmas Coke Truck was coming to town and seeing the article online meant I was lucky enough to see the Facebook comments from the good people of my city as well. I had two young children then, and the last thing I wanted to do was expose them to a multi-national advertising campaign that was trying to increase the sales of their ubiquitous sugar-sweetened beverage. A quick search online confirmed what I suspected that the Coke truck had only recently been an actual truck that people could see in their town in the UK however, half of the comments online were about the memories that the truck invoked, about how Christmas has only now begun and how they were only taking their children there for a treat and that it wouldn't change their consumption behaviour one bit. 

It's moments like this that we recount when explaining how we are so interested in a topic and the author Grant Ennis has said that in 2010 he was driving in San Francisco and saw a billboard for the Chevron Oil company. On it was the picture of a face, and superimposed in front of the face were the words “I will use less energy" and next to the face was a large Chevron logo. It was blatant examples of victim-blaming like this that motivated Ennis to write this book. 

In his book "Dark PR," Grant Ennis exposes and categorises the devious ways in which corporations influence our health and the environment. He explains how these powerful entities use strategies like denialism, normalization, and victim-blaming to deflect blame and obscure the real causes of problems. Ennis argues that these tactics are used to distract us from the structural causes of these problems, such as government subsidies for harmful industries.

Existing work on the Commercial Determinants of Health has highlighted the broader range of influence exerted by large corporations such as the multiple channels of marketing, supply chain control, lobbying of policy-makers and corporate citizenship (Kickbusch et al, 2016) or Freudenberg's Corporate Consumption Complex (2014) where he identified issues such as the prioritization of profit over public health, the promotion of unsustainable consumption, political influence and the erosion of Public Health Infrastructure. Mckee and Stuckler (2018) highlighted how corporations can influence health by defining the dominant narrative, setting the rules by which society (especially trade) operates, commodifying knowledge, and undermining political, social, and economic rights. So while Ennis's work does not explain the full picture of how large corporations influence our lives, it does complement existing work by having a laser-like focus on the framing of public discourse and the way that public perceptions and attitudes can be changed to best suit the aims of big business. 

Ennis introduces the idea of nine devious frames that sway public opinion and subsequently political debate. He outlines how framing is a crucial concept for people engaged in social change to understand and cites George Lakoff's description of frames as “mental structures that shape the way we see the world.” Ennis's nine frames are grouped into four areas termed big lies, panacea frames, victim blaming and complicated frames. One of Ennis's key arguments is that corporations often use seemingly innocuous messages like "save energy" or "eat healthy" to shift responsibility for these problems onto individuals. This is what he calls the "personal responsibility" frame. He argues that this frame is not only ineffective but also harmful, as it prevents us from taking action to address the root causes of these problems.

Ennis also argues that corporations often use ethical consumerism and divestment as a way to distract us from the real issues. He argues that these strategies are not only ineffective but also counterproductive, as they allow corporations to continue to operate without addressing their harmful practices.

The book is broadly split into two sections with the first doing a brilliant job of categorising the various approaches to framing and PR that are designed to influence both end-users and policymakers. This section adds a lot to existing literature I have read and on every page, there are quotes and examples from across a range of sectors; so many that I have enjoyed going back and re-reading sections such as the one on normalisation v de-stigmatisation. While Ennis rightly highlights the need to question the normalisation of unhealthy changes in society, such as population-level weight gain, there is a clear tension between a message that can and has been co-opted by industry (e.g. body positivity; Mull, 2018) and the proper need to de-stigmatise obesity. Ennis explicitly addresses this by saying how it is an "admittedly difficult needle to thread" and in my opinion does a good job of explaining the challenges, highlighting how the issue has been co-opted, and signposting the reader to a wealth of relevant, interesting, and nuanced articles on the topic. 

The second section outlines the recommended actions that citizens could take to address these dark PR forces. This is the section that I have found the most interesting in terms of how I might use the recommendations myself and in my work with others. 

Others who have attempted to outline potential solutions and actions before include Freudenberg (2014) who advocated for strengthening public health infrastructure, enacting effective regulations, promoting sustainable consumption and challenging corporate Influence and Marion Nestle (2015) who advocated for increased transparency, empowering consumers, strengthening public health regulations, promoting healthy alternatives and holding corporations accountable. More recently, Maani et al (2022) advocate for greater awareness of the pollution of health discourses by industry actors, a greater focus on transparency and accountability of sources, the use of improved reframing for health and testing of counter-framing messages that successfully “inoculate” the public against industry-friendly framing. Also, see Lacy-Nichols et al (2022) for more ideas for what they term the "public health playbook".

In contrast to these strategies, Ennis advocates for collective action and policy change. He argues that we need to organize together to pressure governments to change the policies that allow corporations to harm our health and the environment. He also argues that we need to hold corporations accountable for their actions. He favours the simplification of action and avoidance of complexity, suggesting that we can easily get distracted from effective action. He argues that citizens should strive to organize and be engaged politically, that "aggregate action is not collective action" and he explains how democracy needs to be thought of as much more than simply voting, Similarly, we need to move away from telling personal stories as these tend to spotlight heroes and victims while obscuring damaging political structures and undermining political will. 

This simplification is somewhat at odds with public health's concept of complexity, often employed to explain multifaceted health issues. It did remind me though of how complexity has, at times been co-opted by unhealthy commodity industries to distort public and policymaker perceptions (Petticrew et al, 2017). This deliberate obfuscation is frequently deployed in response to policy initiatives and emerging scientific evidence and aims to undermine effective public health measures, particularly regulations that curb their lucrative but damaging practices. 

Ennis's argument for simplicity and focused messaging resonates when addressing a broad audience of "citizens." However, recognizing the varying levels of power, resources, and influence among individuals, a more nuanced approach is potentially warranted. Specifically, tailoring messages and action plans to specific groups – local politicians, public health professionals, academics, sports club leaders, community leaders – can effectively empower individuals to make informed choices and harness their unique influence. This balance between simplicity and multi-layered, even complex, actions is a topic that has sparked lively discussions among my students and me since reading the book. This engagement underscores the book's thought-provoking nature and its ability to stimulate meaningful conversations.

Dark PR is a thought-provoking book that is enjoyable to read and full of great quotes and examples. Ennis's meticulous research and compelling arguments shed a stark light on the insidious influence of corporate disinformation. The book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how corporations shape our understanding of health and the environment.

Related Resources

Podcasts with the author, Grant Ennis

• Money, Power, Health with Nason Maani - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Nmfbyv7pj3IX9MScYeuLZ

• The War on Cars - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3OlsyYkpugb5NwRpRhCI5a?si=69ac8f6b80284893&nd=1

• Family Health Lab: End Fat Shaming with Grant Ennis - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4O1McUAgOhN5yuMCyxloXQ?si=Hd229-bZSNeeFvfouGZ2Cg&nd=1 

Resources signposted from the book

• Frameworks Institute - https://www.frameworksinstitute.org/

Selected References from the book

These are a few interesting references that I have chosen; the book is one of the most well-referenced and citation-dense (but readable) books I have read. There are loads more.

• Jamieson, K. H., & Waldman, P. (2003). The press effect: Politicians, journalists, and the stories that shape the political world. Oxford University Press, USA. 

• Lakoff, G. (2014). The all new don't think of an elephant!: Know your values and frame the debate. Chelsea Green Publishing. 

• Mull, A. (2018) Body Positivity Is a Scam. Vox Magazine. https://www.vox.com/2018/6/5/17236212/body-positivity-scam-dove-campaign-ads 

References used in this review

• Freudenberg, N. (2014). Lethal but legal: corporations, consumption, and protecting public health. Oxford University Press. 

• Kickbusch, I., Allen, L., & Franz, C. (2016). The commercial determinants of health. The Lancet Global Health, 4(12), e895-e896. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(16)30217-0   

• Lacy-Nichols, J., Marten, R., Crosbie, E., & Moodie, R. (2022). The public health playbook: ideas for challenging the corporate playbook. The Lancet Global Health, 10(7), e1067-e1072. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00185-1 

• Maani, N., van Schalkwyk, M. C., Petticrew, M., & Buse, K. (2022). The pollution of health discourse and the need for effective counter-framing. bmj, 377.https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1128  

• McKee, M., & Stuckler, D. (2018). Revisiting the corporate and commercial determinants of health. American Journal of Public Health, 108(9), 1167-1170. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304510  

• Nestle, M. (2015). Soda politics: taking on big soda (and winning). Oxford University Press, USA. 

• Petticrew, M., Katikireddi, S. V., Knai, C., Cassidy, R., Hessari, N. M., Thomas, J., & Weishaar, H. (2017). ‘Nothing can be done until everything is done’: the use of complexity arguments by food, beverage, alcohol and gambling industries. J Epidemiol Community Health, 71(11), 1078-1083. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2017-209710 

Related Books

• Freudenberg, N. (2014). Lethal but legal: corporations, consumption, and protecting public health. Oxford University Press. [Google Books]

• Michaels, D. (2008). Doubt is their product: how industry's assault on science threatens your health. Oxford University Press. 

• Michaels, D. (2020). The triumph of doubt: dark money and the science of deception. Oxford University Press. 

• Nestle, M.(2015). Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning). Oxford University Press, USA. 

• Oreskes, N., & Conway, E. M. (2015). Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. London: Bloomsbury 

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