The University of Colorado School of Medicine told The New York Times this week that it stood by a prominent faculty member who said he wanted to help Coca-Cola shore up its image as “a company that brings important and fun things” to people rather than be “singled out as the No. 1 villain in the obesity world.”
That statement by Professor James Hill was contained in e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.
To be sure, university faculty enjoy tremendous latitude in their research and professional activities. So let’s just say Hill’s relationship with Coke seems to have been curiously cozy, as revealed by e-mails and other reports.
And even if CU didn’t have a problem with that relationship, it still returned a $1 million contribution from Coke this month that had been given to establish the Global Energy Balance Network, which advertises its mission as “healthier living through the science of energy balance.” Hill serves on the network’s executive committee.
As The AP reports, “Coke helped pick the group’s leaders, edited its mission statement and suggested articles and videos for its website.”
Meanwhile, critics are claiming that Coke’s purpose was to fund research that downplayed the role of soft drinks in obesity.
Just to be clear, we have no problem with corporations supporting research related to their products and services. It’s done all the time, often with results that advance the state of knowledge.
Nor do we think this nation’s obesity issues should all be dumped at the feet of a company that has been selling sugary drinks for a century and whose leading beverage was ubiquitous long before American waistlines began to expand.
Nevertheless, when an ostensibly scholarly outfit like the Global Energy Balance Network advertises that it “operates independently” of its various funders and that it received “an unrestricted gift” from Coke, you don’t expect to see e-mails from a prominent professor quite so concerned with bolstering the company’s public image.
By the way, the company’s top scientist, who coordinated the company’s embrace of Hill’s network, has resigned. Even Coke appears embarrassed by the episode.
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