Skip to main content

Bournvita controversy snowballs after MNC threatens legal action against small fry

 
Amidst raging controversy over the top children's product Bournvita's allegedly misleading information on claims of "improved brain activity, improved muscles, improved immune system and improved bone health", a spokesperson of the Cadbury's one of the most well-known brands has said, over the last seven decades it "has earned the trust of consumers in India."
Insisting that by being a scientifically formulated product that "adheres to the highest quality standards and complies with all the laws of the land", Bournvita, "concerned by a recent unscientific video on social media that went abnormally viral", the spokesperson said, the video distorts facts and makes "false and negative inferences" about its "safety and efficacy".
Stating that the video (now withdrawn) presenter's comments "are not based on science and were designed to drive anxiety and fear among our loyal consumers by misrepresenting the facts and omitting factually correct information to sensationalize his view", the spokesperson admitted, it has "created panic and anxiety and questions the trust that consumers have bestowed on brands like Bournvita."
The spokesperson insisted, "The formulation has been scientifically crafted by a team of nutritionists and food scientists to offer the best of taste and health. All our claims are verified and transparent and all ingredients have regulatory approvals. All the necessary nutritional information is mentioned on the pack for consumers to make informed choices."
The spokesperson further said:
"Bournvita is best consumed with a glass of 200 ml hot or cold milk as highlighted on the pack. Every serve of 20 gm of Bournvita has 7.5 grams of added sugar, which is approximately one and a half teaspoons. This is much less than the daily recommended intake limits of sugar for children.
"Bournvita contains nutrients namely Vitamin A, C, D, B12, Iron, Zinc, Copper and Selenium which supports the immune system. These have been part of our formulation and we have always called out 'Helps with healthy functioning of the immune system' on the back of our pack for several years (even before the Covid-19 pandemic).
"Caramel Colour (150 C) is within permissible limits as per guidelines defined by regulations.
"All ingredients are safe, approved for use and within permissible limits as per the regulatory guidelines."
Refuting the Bournvita spokesperson's argument, Dr Arun Gupta, central coordinator, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), convener, Nutrition Advocacy for Public Interest (NAPi), and former member, PM’s Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges, came up with a statement stating that "ultra processed foods" are "inherently harmful."
Stating that the presenter's video -- now taken down -- is "scientific", in that it makes "people aware of the harmful product", Dr Gupta said, "Scientifically crafted means nothing to health if the product is harmful. Whole of Cadbury team should listen to this video by one of the best scientists of the world." 
Further underlining that the presenter's video did a lot of public service to make people aware, Dr Gupta said, "Colours, additives, emulsifiers and raising agents are all harmful to human health. Enough evidence is available if Cadbury or anyone else wanted to read and reflect."
Click here to watch the controversial video 
The controversy erupted after the presenter, through his Instagram handle, The FoodPharmer, called out "misleading information on Cadbury's Bournvita product", which claimed "improved brain activity, improved muscles, improved immune system and improved bone health."
The presenter, Revant Himatsingka, who goes by the handle ‘Food Pharmer’ on Instagram with over 128K followers, posted the video on April 1, 2023, criticized Cadbury’s Bournvita for ‘miscommunicating’ on its package about the health drink’s ‘nutritional value’.
He also spoke about how the back of the pack has fine print about the ‘nutritional’ element of the drink, while the front makes tall claims intended to attract parents (much like the way the brand advertises).
"To be sure, Cadbury’s Bournvita is not alone in this front vs. back game – we could easily add every other so-called ‘health’ drink to this list – Boost, Complan, Horlicks, Milo, etc. It so happened that Revant picked one brand to make this point about sugar addiction caused by such products", commented Karthik S in a blog referring to Revant's post. 
Revant’s video went viral, with over 12 million views, and was shared by many celebrities, forcing Bournvita to take legal recourse to "avoid misinformation". It also issued a statement to clarify and share the "correct facts to allay the concerns of our consumers."
Commented Karthik, "I can completely understand why Revant decided to delete the video and apologize. A legal notice from a corporate behemoth like Cadbury is not worth fighting against, particularly by an individual."
He continued, "As for Cadbury’s stand in managing this reputational crisis, what they did first, by offering a clarification, was quite appropriate and needed. The truth is their first and best defense, provided they have a compelling truth to counter Revant’s claims.
"If they had focused on the facts and called out specific exaggerations of Revant, their clarification would have been discussed in sync with Revant’s viral video", the blogger added.
However, he regretted, "The brand decided to shut Revant through a legal notice. Such intimidatory tactics don’t always go down well and result in what we call the ‘Streisand effect’ (attempts to hide, remove, or censor information can lead to the unintended consequence of increasing awareness of that information)."
"Understandably, there are a lot more people sharing Revant’s original video now, along with news reports of a ‘health influencer being sued by Bournvita’", he added. 
Already, a Modi bhakt, @i_desi_surya has approvingly posted Revant's video.
Also, a Twitter handle, @TheLiverDoc in a Twitter thread said  this:
"Instagram influencer, The FoodPharmer deleted his video, calling out the misleading information on Cadbury's Bounrvita product. Essentially, the product claimed improved brain activity, improved muscles, improved immune system and improved bone health.
All of these require empirical evidence for confirmation.
"Cadbury's has made a statement that they have designed the product on scientific basis, which means there has to be published studies backing their claims.
Here are the ones I found:
"1. A study showed that caffeine content in Bournvita was higher than other similar cocoa based products. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10798344/
"2. Pregnant women in Nigeria avoided Bournvita due to fear of developing "big babies" and complicated labour/delivery. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6125444/
"3. Another study showed that Bournvita product changes color due to inherent changes in pH due to its "sugary" content. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
"4. The last paper I came across anything remotely to Cadbury's the maker of Bournvita is this one: "Critics say UNICEF-Cadbury partnership is mere sugarwashing." - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
"Basically, the claims of scientific methods or studies and the scientific evidence for everything that is written on the Bournvita product is not backed by good evidence and thus, Cadbury's claims are misleading on muscle and bone growth, immunity enhancement and brain development - there are no controlled studies to show the same.
Considering the high sugar content of 71%, per serve 20g has 14.2g sugar which is approx. 57% of recommended upper daily limit and this will only increase if more milk is added, or additional sugar used over the day. Hence "claim" that using the product as advised is safe is also a misleading one.
"Big Food Pharma must come with empirical evidence rather than muscle tactics to prove a point. Herbalife did the same with me when I reported on the death of a young woman after consuming Herbalife products.
"The motto of FMCG industry is:
"'Protect the business at any cost, call out and persecute the whistleblowers and keep the consumers ignorant all the while throwing them under the bus'."

Comments

TRENDING

World Hijab Day? Ex-Muslim women observe Feb 1 as No Hijab Day, insist: 'Put it on a Man'

I didn't know that there could ever be a thing as World Hijab Day until I received an email alert from Maryam Namazie of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), stating that several ex-Muslim women's groups had observed the same day—February 1—as No Hijab Day! According to Namazie, the day "was created on February 1 as a direct response to World Hijab Day" to "illuminate the coercive and oppressive realities of the hijab as a pillar of sex apartheid and a war on women."

Google powered AI refuses to correct grammar of a 'balanced' piece on Trump sending chained immigrants to India!

This is a continuation of my blog on how, while the start-up-developed AI app DeepSeek is being criticized for consistently rejecting content related to China or Maoism, there appears to be no mention in Western media about why another app, developed by the powerful Google, Gemini, remains silent on Indian political issues.  

Talking of increased corporate control over news, Rajdeep Sardesai 'evades' alternative media

When I received an intimation that well-known journalist Rajdeep Sardesai was to speak at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on February 2, my instant reaction was: I know what he is going to say—his views are quite well known; he wouldn’t be saying anything new. Yet, I decided to go and listen to him to catch his mood at a time when the media, as he (and I) knew it, is changing fast due to the availability of new technological tools that were not accessible even a decade ago.

Why predictions of an imminent collapse of the Russian economy may be wrong

A veteran Canadian journalist, settled in Russia, stated in a Facebook post that President Donald Trump "is apparently listening to experts who tell him that Russia's economy is on the verge of 'imploding,' and if he just squeezes a bit harder," his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "will fall into line."

Gujarat a police state? How top High Court advocate stunned a senior-most journalist

Rajdeep Sardesai, Anand Yagnik This is a continuation of my earlier blog on well-known journalist Rajdeep Sardesai's lecture in memory of the late Achyut Yagnik at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA). I was a little surprised when I received the intimation about the venue for the lecture.

5% poor in India? Union govt claim debunked, '26.4% of population below poverty line'

A recent paper, referring to the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23 of the Government of India (GoI), has debunked the official claim that poverty has substantially declined. Titled "Poverty in India: The Rangarajan Method and the 2022–23 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey", the paper —authored by scholars CA Sethu, LT Abhinav Surya, and CA Ruthu—states that "more than a quarter of India’s population falls below the poverty line."

Gujarat's water anarchy? 16.7% of Narmada water going to industry, 33% of targeted area irrigated: Govt insider

The Narmada project is something that has always excited me, including how much water will be distributed and to which sector. A few days ago, when I was talking to a top Gujarat government insider, I was a little surprised when I was told that it is up to the “respective states to decide how much Narmada water they would distribute among various sectors” out of the total quota allocated to the four states—Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan—as per the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal award of 1979.

DeepSeek censors uncomfortable queries on China, but why's Gemini so touchy on India?

The powerful Chinese AI app DeepSeek, which has taken the Silicon Valley by surprise, as it has capacities matching Google’s Gemini and Open AI's ChatGPT, is being criticised for restricting free speech, and rightly so. It is being said that those signing up for the chatbot and its open-source technology "are being confronted with the Chinese Communist Party’s brand of censorship and information control."

Russians at a Bali yoga camp to avoid drafting for war? Things aren't any different in Ukraine

Are people in Russia becoming frustrated with the prolonged war in Ukraine? And is the war having a similar impact on the people of Ukraine? I have no firsthand information about this, but it is well known how nationalist hysteria often seeks to conceal such frustration, particularly among the youth.