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Social media influencers are taking over just about every lifestyle industry: fashion, beauty, homes, food, relationships, you name it.
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It can appear harmless for many but when it comes to health, that’s when things get tricky.
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An investigation by the Washington Post and The Examination, which reports on global public health, found that dietitian influencers are getting paid to shift how the public perceives healthy eating and shape followers’ eating habits.
In July, the World Health Organization released two reports on the safety of aspartame, the popular artificial sweetener in drinks like Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi.
Obviously that could affect consumers, prompting American Beverage, a trade and lobbying group representing Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other companies, to take action.
So prior to the reports going public, a hashtag was catching fire on the social media accounts of health professionals: #safetyofaspartame.
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Steph Grasso, a registered dietitian from Oakton, Va., used the hashtag on TikTok and called the WHO’s warnings about artificial sweeteners “clickbait” that were based on “low-quality science” — to her 2.2 million followers and 224,000 fans on Instagram.
Cara Harbstreet of Kansas City, known as the “Anti-Diet Dietitian,” told her Instagram followers not to worry about the “fear mongering headlines” about aspartame because “the evidence doesn’t suggest there’s a reason for concern.”
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And Houston-area dietitian Mary Ellen Phipps sipped from a glass of soda and told her 110,000 Instagram followers that artificial sweeteners “satisfy the desire for sweetness” without affecting blood sugar or insulin levels.
What is sometimes made explicit to viewers, sometimes not, is that American Beverage sponsored those posts, paying undisclosed amounts to a reported 10 registered dietitians, a physician and a fitness influencer to use their social media accounts to put out the fire the WHO started with its claims that aspartame doesn’t work for weight loss and is “possibly carcinogenic,” the Post reported.
It’s a little-known tactic the food and beverage industry is banking on: using popular influencers to sway customers who don’t know if they should be listening to health messages or not.
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American Beverage said the dietitians who participated in its campaign “adequately” disclosed their relationships to the trade association by using the #safetyofaspartame hashtag, linking to the website, and/or flagging posts as paid partnerships.
According to the Post, however, only 11 of the 35 videos specifically named the association or “AmeriBev” as their partner – despite the U.S. Federal Trade Commission advising all social media influencers to be clear about who is paying them for promotions.
An American Beverage spokesperson argued the campaign was needed because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other health authorities have said aspartame is safe and disagreed with the WHO’s warnings.
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“The registered dietitians and nutritionists we relied on shared their own informed opinions when communicating the facts to their audiences, and were up front about being paid,” he said.
Confused followers justifiably were frank when trying to determine what was fact and what was essentially a paid advertisement.
Phipps, known as the “Diabetes Dietitian” on her Instagram account “milknhoneynutrition,” specified that her video on aspartame was a paid partnership and included the hashtag #ad – along with #safetyofaspartame, #diabetes and #bloodsugarfriendly.
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Followers were quick to ask who her “paid partner” was, to which Phipps answered “The American Beverage Association,” adding that any suggestion that “I would compromise my professional ethics for money is insulting.”
But unlike American Beverage, many of her fans weren’t buying.
“I’ll be taking what you say with a grain of salt since this is basically a paid advertisement,” one person commented.
Phipps tried to defend herself, first by claiming she encourages people “to always critically evaluate the content they see online,” but doubling down on aspartame’s safety by claiming “the current body of research” says it is safe in “moderate amounts.”
The user, however, wasn’t convinced. “You’re insulted, but I’m disillusioned.”
WHO to assess cancer risk of diet-soda sweetener aspartame
Artificial sweeteners linked to serious health issues
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