Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

http://calorielab.com/news/2015/10/19/co...ropaganda/

EXCERPT: One hears the phrase “junk science” disturbingly often these days, which may raise in one’s mind the question, “How can I recognize science that is actually of the junk variety?”

One telltale sign: When it is being invoked to support the argument that junk food is just fine, no adverse aspects, go right ahead and indulge. Indeed, you could say that junk science is to real science as junk food is to real food. Here is a prime example.

Besieged by evidence and health experts’ warnings that their products are key contributors to overweight and obesity and resulting unhealthy conditions, sales of Coca-Cola beverages have been dropping like GOP presidential candidates lately. Coke’s response has been to gin up a PR campaign based on the erroneous claim that the main cause of our obesity epidemic is not our diet, but our lack of exercise. To lend legitimacy to this premise, which most experts roll their eyes at, Coke has begun recruiting reputable experts of its own to make that case. And by recruiting, we basically mean buying....

And ofcourse this "get more exercise" propaganda campaign feathers in nicely with the "buy more energy drinks" craze that Coca Cola now counts on to make up for its dwindling Coke revenue.

Quote:One hears the phrase “junk science” disturbingly often these days, which may raise in one’s mind the question, “How can I recognize science that is actually of the junk variety?”

That's an excellent question.

Quote:One telltale sign: When it is being invoked to support the argument that junk food is just fine, no adverse aspects, go right ahead and indulge. Indeed, you could say that junk science is to real science as junk food is to real food.

Isn't that circular reasoning?

It looks to me like these people disapprove of 'junk food' as an act of faith, even though they will claim that 'science' justifies their position. But if what counts or doesn't count as 'junk science' depends on the position that it takes regarding the food, we seem to have problems.