Merck is teaming with celebrity chef and cookbook author Leticia Moreinos Schwartz on Desafiando La Diabetes: Logra Tus Metas, an educational program encouraging Hispanics with type 2 diabetes to achieve better control of their blood sugar—a key treatment goal to help reduce the risk of serious health problems. Hispanics in the United States are at a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes than non-Hispanic white adults, and it is the fifth leading cause of death within the Hispanic community. Chef Leticia, who has a family history of type 2 diabetes, will visit select cities to cook up some of her favorite diabetes-friendly Latin recipes, urge Hispanics to know their A1C (average blood sugar level over the past two to three months), and work with their doctors to set and attain their own A1C goal.
Despite epic #FAILs, pharma still hires celebrity chefs!
Novo's celebrity chef partner Paula Deen, for example, admitted in a videotaped deposition as part of a discrimination suit that “Yes, of course,” she has used the "N" word (see "Should Novo Nordisk Dump Deen?").
At the time, Novo refused to say that Deen was fired. Instead, Novo said "Novo Nordisk and Paula Deen have mutually agreed to suspend our patient education activities for now, while she takes time to focus her attention where it is needed." Ha! At a recent pharma agency cocktail party a Novo person admitted that "Paula is gone."
Wow! Not only are pharma brand spokesperson celebrities ignored by consumers, some tend to be sleazy, opportunistic, and racist! Three strikes and Yer Out!