Marion Nestle
Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition,
Food Studies, and Public Health
Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health
New York University
411 Lafayette Street, 5 th Floor
New York, NY 10003-7035
P: 212 998 5595 marion.nestle@nyu.edu
www.foodpolitics.com
@marionnestle
th
Course description
Food advocacy is based on the premise that human activities—including those related to food--are influenced by social groups and institutions and can, therefore, be changed through political processes. Food advocates, like other stakeholders in the food system, use methods of social change to influence how food is produced and consumed, and how it affects human health, wellbeing, and the environment. This course focuses on how to use those methods to effect specific changes in systems of food production and consumption.
Students will:
 Identify problems in the food system that demand advocacy.
 Identify goals for food advocacy (the “ask” or solution to the problem).
 Analyze the chain of causation of food system problems.
 Distinguish between short-term and long-term and between “upstream” and “downstream” advocacy goals.
 Describe how advocates frame (“brand”) food advocacy issues.
 Identify targets (people, organizations, government agencies) of advocacy.
 Identify stakeholders in the issue (those affected, on all sides).
 Identify resources—people, information, funding—to support and promote food advocacy.
 Identify structural, political, and personal barriers to food advocacy.
 Describe the methods used by food advocates to achieve goals and overcome barriers.
 Describe methods for evaluating the effectiveness of food advocacy.
Readings
Books: background information
 Nestle M. Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning), Oxford University Press, 2015.
 Simon M. Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to
Fight Back. Nation Books, 2006
Online text
 Dorfman L, Sorenson S, Wallack L. Working Upstream: Skills for Social Change, Berkeley
Media Studies Group, 2009. http://bmsg.org/sites/default/files/bmsg_handbook_working_upstream.pdf
Articles: as indicated in course outline

Guidelines
In all reading and class discussions, focus on:
 What problem does the advocacy address?
 What is the advocacy goal? Is it policy, program, or service? Upstream or downstream?
 What is the rationale for the goal?
 What is the target of the advocacy?
 What is the approach of the advocacy? Is it “warrior,” “builder,” “weaver”? Other?
 What is the “frame” for the advocacy?
 What is the call to action (the “ask”)?
 How is the advocacy funded?
In this course, you will identify a food system problem (challenge, issue, concern), select a goal for addressing that problem, develop a plan for advocating for that goal, and present the plan as a brief advocacy case study. To do this, you will:
 Define a food system problem—health, social, economic, political—that can be addressed by some kind of change.
 Work out the chain of causation of that problem.
 Choose a goal for the change along the chain of causation that is the best—or the most practical or politically feasible—way to address the problem. If you choose a downstream approach, explain why it is justified.
 Do the research and establish a well-documented, factual basis for your concern about the problem and your choice of advocacy goal.
 Identify the target—the person, agency, or institution with the authority or power to make the change.
 Identify allies—individuals, groups, resources--who can help support and promote your cause.
 Develop an advocacy plan that outlines what you will do.
 Create messages (“frames”) that describe the problem, the solution, and why addressing the problem matters.
 Determine actions—i.e., letters, demonstrations, use of social media, lobbying--that can convey these messages to your target
 Write about all this in as advocacy case study.

1
Class outline
CLASS DATE TOPIC
March
28
Intro:
Problems, advocacy goals
2
3
4
April
4
April
11
April
18
Chains of causation; upstream, downstream; kinds of advocacy
Frames
Stakeholders, allies
ASSIGNMENT
 Soda Politics, pages 343-403.
 Hallenbeck T. How GMO labeling came to pass in
Vermont. Burlington Free Press, April 27, 2014.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics
/2014/04/27/gmo-labeling-came-passvermont/8166519/
 Hopkinson J. How Vermont beat Big Food. Politico,
March 17, 2016. http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2016/03/vermont
-gmo-labeling-law-national-standard-000067
 Dorfman L, Sorenson S, Wallack L. Working Upstream:
Skills for Social Change, Berkeley Media Studies Group,
2009. http://bmsg.org/sites/default/files/bmsg_handbook_wo rking_upstream.pdf. Read pages 26-29 and 93-109 plus discussion questions on p. 110.
 Stevenson GW, Ruhf K, Lezberg S, Clancy K. Warrior,
Builder, and Weaver Work: Strategies for Changing the
Food System. In: Hinrichs CC, Lyson TA, eds. Remaking
the North American Food System. U. Nebraska Press,
2007: 33-62.
 Working Upstream, pages 179-196.
 George Lakoff and Berkeley Media Studies Group:
Framing the issues: Food Day webinar, July 17, 2013,
Slides.
 Berkeley Media Studies Group Framing Brief, 2007.
 Soda Politics topics for debate, 85, 150, 170, 226, 289,
361,385
 Working Upstream, pages 137-153, 159-174. Browse:
Boyd A, Mitchell DO, eds.
 Soda Politics: review chapters 25-27
 Browse: Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution. http://beautifultrouble.org/all-modules/.
 Browse: Beautiful Solutions https://solutions.thischangeseverything.org/ (Go to
“What are you passionate about?” Click on Food)

5 April
25
May 3
Actions  Working Upstream, page 203-226.
 Appetite for Profit
 Evich HB. ‘Good food’ companies leave lobbying off the menu. Politico, July 27, 2015 . http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/good-foodcompanies-leave-lobbying-off-the-menu-120878
 Eight Tips for a Successful Lobby Visit, 2006. http://fcnl.org/assets/flyer/lobby_flyer1105.pdf.
Case studies due
Paper expectations
Title page: name, e-mail, title of project (what you are advocating for, to address what problem), summary (fill out table):
Problem
Chain of causation
Intervention point
Goal
Target
Allies
Frame(s)
 Number the pages.
 The text of your paper should provide a brief, referenced justification for the need to address the problem and for your point of advocacy intervention (one or two pages).
 The text should describe your advocacy plan and could include names of organizations and individuals you would contact, sample letters, types of frames, or anything else that indicates serious thinking about what needs to be done and how.
 Include references to key sources.
 Format: double-spaced, one-inch margins, two spaces between sentences, no right justification. Use grammar and spell checks. Use a reference style with Arabic numerals (1,
2, 3, etc) in the text with embedded references as endnotes (not footnotes). Do not convert your file to pdf (ask if you don’t know how to do this—it’s easy and worth learning).
Note: This is a seminar course (not a lecture course)
You are expected to come to class prepared to participate fully in discussions, to ask for information you need, to contribute ideas to the projects of other class members, to think critically about issues being discussed, and to take responsibility for making the class lively and useful.

RESOURCES
Advocacy groups (general)
 The Harvard Food Law Society has a career guide to relevant organizations , also by category.
 Food Tank’s list of global organizations, 2015
 Food Politic’s list of organizations
Advocacy groups (national examples)
 Berkeley Media Studies Group (advocacy through media) http://www.bmsg.org/
 California Center for Public Health Advocacy http://www.publichealthadvocacy.org/
 Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI): http://www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy
 Environmental Working Group http://ewg.org/
 Food Policy Action http://www.foodpolicyaction.org/
 Food and Water Watch http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/
 Food Research and Action Center http://frac.org/
 Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy: http://www.iatp.org/
 National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition: http://sustainableagriculture.net/
 Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity: http://www.uconnruddcenter.org/
U.S. government food and nutrition websites
 Nutrition.gov http://www.nutrition.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=11&tax_level=1
 Food and Nutrition Information Center, National Agricultural Library http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?tax_level=1&info_center=4
 USDA policy topics: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Browse/view.aspx?subject=PolicyTopics
 FDA food regulation: http://www.fda.gov/Food/default.htm
 FTC regulatory policies: http://www.ftc.gov/
Legislation tracking
 Congress: http://www.govtrack.us/
 Food Policy Action: http://www.foodpolicyaction.org/
Lobbying and Campaign Contribution tracking
 Center for Responsive Politics, Open Secrets http://www.opensecrets.org/
 Sunlight Foundation, Open Congress http://www.opencongress.org/
International organizations
 Food and Agriculture Organization (U.N.)
 World Health Organization (U.N.)
 International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)