NYSC Ad Makes Light Of Paula Deen's Diabetes, Jokes About Her Death

The New York-based gym chain, New York Sports Club took out an ad in the Jan. 25 edition of the New York Times that turned into news itself: the text read, "Paula, you made a fortune off of fat. Call us if you want to be around to enjoy it."

They were referring, of course, to Paula Deen -- the controversial Food Network star who is best known for her high-fat, high-sugar riffs on Southern comfort food. Last week, Deen revealed that she has been living with Type 2 diabetes for the past three years, drawing criticism from colleagues and viewers alike for concealing the condition while promoting unhealthy foods that are particularly dangerous for diabetes sufferers. What's more, many questioned her motivation for speaking out, given her timing. While announcing her condition, Deen also revealed that she'd signed a multi-million dollar deal with pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk to promote their diabetes drug, Victoza. What's more, reported Business Insider, she has continued to profit from peddling diabetes-inappropriate fare, making an estimated $30 million during the period between her diagnosis and her public statement about the disorder.

And she fell under even more scrutiny today after images of her recent cheeseburger lunch made their way onto the Internet.

But an advertisement alluding to Deen's ultimate demise? Those very same critics have come out to condemn the ad. "Does she deserve criticism? Absolutely. But this kind of vulture marketing is f--king tasteless," wrote the popular blogger, Copyranter. Agreed Laura Stampler at Business Insider: "This tasteless ad crosses the line."

So what do you think? Is NYSC's ad in poor taste? And read what some of you said on Twitter about the ad:

Comments

[tarynw87]

09:03 PM on 01/31/2012

Not harsh at all. Paula not only eats an unhealthy diet herself but teaches and advocates for the way she cooks. Um diabetes couldnt have happened to someone with a more deserving lifestyle. People works their butts off in the gym and practice self control to remain healthy, let's congratulate them, strive more to be like that and not throw a pity party for pathetic lazy fatties like Paula Deen. Let's maybe fight Fat America for change.

[Jennifer Kley]

11:48 AM on 01/30/2012

Me no likey the ad. Not at all. Mostly because it just sounds corny. I mean, how many people did it take to come up with that? And really, it was a reach because with her fortune she wouldn't be at any gym but rather have a personal trainer.


http://thecubiclerebel.wordpress.com/

[2crudedudes]

05:14 PM on 02/07/2012

well, that's one blog I won't bother to read...

[houseofd]

07:58 AM on 01/30/2012

This is New York City. We don't pull punches.

That being said, I remember my aunt and uncle moving down to Montgomery when I was a kid, and the first billboard they saw read "Do your good deed for the day, kill a Yankee."

I'm sure it was in jest...for some. At least this ad is a wake-up call to not murder yourself, much less others.

[NLPMan]

03:08 AM on 01/30/2012

I lived in the south for 12 years. There is a gentility that was a welcome change from the neurotic, sometimes caustic north. That was my experience as a person. My experience as mental health professional was completely different. There is a sublimal toxic underbelly to southern women gentility which represents systemic cultural emotional dishonesty. Most of my clients were women and it was like there was a factory somewhere in Marietta which churned out petite demure cherubic middle aged women who were incensed with the second class role they played in Southern society. So many had "psychosomatic ailments" like depression and chronic fatique. Even northern women who moved south with their husbands for jobs complained of how they didnt know their husbands anymore who had become Atlanta's version of Stepford husbands. It was the same routine for the husbands: go to work at their corporate jobs, blow off steam at the local strip bar on Friday night, play ball with the kids on Saturday and go to church on Sunday. Women had to eat their words as their husbands went to the Cheetah lounge and they could only say "its ok to look at the menu as long as you dont order anything". Kudos to PD for making it in a southern "mans world" but she perpetutates a sexist cultural indoctrination that any problem can be ameliorated by a "piece of mamma's pie" instead of healthy adolescent identity development and honest negotiation of needs in adult relationships.

[emncaity]

02:12 AM on 01/30/2012

Doesn't go too far if it saves even one life. Period.

As for Deen, man...I just don't get it. Is there something about her that appeals to Southerners in general? I'm saying that not as a Southerner-hater--I have several in my family, and even I am living in West Texas at the moment (yes, you have to capitalize "West," like it's a different state or something)--but I just don't get the appeal. I wonder if she's kind of the acid test or dividing point between people who "get" Southernism and those who don't.

[GBulldog]

12:55 AM on 01/30/2012

She is so gross !

[nans3355]

10:26 PM on 01/29/2012

well, now maybe she will make a change necessary for a healthier life, she has raised two beautiful sons, not easy, I think she is a remarkable woman who overcame depression and a bad marriage. Paula her two sons as testimony to the fact that she got it right. You go girl, calm seas and love Paula, only love.....

[NLPMan]

09:52 PM on 01/29/2012

I am a health insurance actuarial mathematician, food/metabolic chemist and NLP practitioner in private practice for 30 years who has helped thousands of people recover fully from many supposedly uncurable diseases such as diabetes. This has included many celebrities. The dilemna they have is that their personal evolution is under public scrutiny because they have "branded" themselves and their behaviors to support a public image which has provided them with a notable livelihood. Nobody is surprised by the recent revelation of her diabetes diagnosis. Seldom have I ever seen an instance where a celebrity's life challenges are so materially associated with their livelihood other than the Marlboro man. She has reached the epitome of deleterious cause and effect. Her homespun dysfunctional "food is love" cultural thinking is derived from being a Southern woman, who are still second class citizens, and the only way they could progress in that repressive society was to take on an external demeanor of "sweetness" while being shrewd and calculating on the inside. It is reflected in the macronutrient content of their diets. Paula Deen is no different. Her dilemna is that her new orientation is so dychotomous to her old one on one level but unremorsefully or innanely the same on the other hand. And she does not see the incongruity. She has learned nothing about life from this challenge other than to cover up for her shame and make more money off other peoples adversity you'all!

[emncaity]

02:13 AM on 01/30/2012

That is seriously good.

[Pete Wood]

09:32 PM on 01/29/2012

Paula Dean has a cooking show, not a HEALTH show. nuttin wrong in that..

[houseofd]

08:02 AM on 01/30/2012

Fact. Of course, to offer a cooking show whose information, although delicious, is egregiously unhealthy, and then to contract diabetes, and instead of promoting a healthy lifestyle, get paid to become a drug pusher? I love me some Paula Deen, her show is food porn supreme, but that path is a bit questionable.

[Pete Wood]

11:30 AM on 01/30/2012

If u as a consumer of food can not disseminate between healthy food and bad food, just drink water do not blame someone else

[booshh]

05:46 PM on 01/29/2012

That ad is timely and AWESOME!

[crystal clear 919]

04:25 PM on 01/29/2012

Whoa! Seriously? That's a bit too far.

[2crudedudes]

05:15 PM on 02/07/2012

not far enough

[Unca Allen]

12:52 PM on 01/29/2012

I've been watching Deen's fortune (and waistline ) grow for years. Her number one favorite ingredient is butter, and I have to admit nothing else tastes like it. I like to indulge myself about once a week, and perhaps twice when fresh corn is in season. There are many healthy idshes one can make that include butter, but never as much as Paula uses. It's hard to believe she has made so many millions off a cooking show, and harder to believe she wasn't aware that excessive eating of her kind will lead to diabetes. I quit watching her a year ago when I realized that she ended every show with some calorie-laden, fat-laden, obnoxious dish dripping from her chin. In fact, I'm going back to the gym.

[kennethketchum]

12:07 PM on 01/29/2012

One can never be made at her because she never forced people to eat her food. A person cannot blame her for their food choices. That is called ignorance. People with degrees (even M.D.s) eat terribly and cannot blame anyone but themselves. Whites have a very strange relationship with food as Albert Schweitzer said in his book THE IMPACT OF THE WHITE MAN'S DIET ON THE AFRICAN NATIVE. People have no idea of food history or how their diet impacts their ecology and environment. We do not get this education in our schools which is by childhood diabetes is at epidemic proportions. The Eurocentric diet, farming techniques and food preparation practices are poisoning the planet. American's diets are producing more sickness, cancers and health issues than illegal drugs ever could. It is time people took responsibility for their food choices.

[Unca Allen]

12:57 PM on 01/29/2012

Thank you for the lecture. It was most boring. I'm sure the Eurocentric diet is unhealthy, but I wouldn't want to eat as most Africans do. Their lifespan...on a continental average, is about 40, right?

[kennethketchum]

01:29 PM on 01/29/2012

Unfortunately, I do not eat as most African do because their diets have been contaminated by European food processing practices, including the use of "suicide seeds" manufactured by Monsanto. See the documentary LIFE OUT OF CONTROL and listen to Shiva Vandana, PhD when she speaks. Also watch the doc THE FUTURE OF FOOD on www.hulu.com. Or read Michael Pollan's books or watch FOOD, INC., and FOOD MATTERS. Now, back to your African re-education: REASONS FOR SHORT LIFESPAN in Africa ARE: contaminated water supplies, poor medical treatment, HIV/AIDS infection, tribal warfare, overuse of pesticides/insecticides in farming, I could go on here. I was referring to PRE-COLONIALISM diets in African before the European Imperialism, not current food consumption patterns. Ok - look at the Okinawan and Japanese lifespans for superior diets. I am African and am mostly vegan.

[kennethketchum]

01:36 PM on 01/29/2012

Please realize that when you take a people's food away from them and give them your own, you are changing the way they live. This is why Europeans had a practice of BURNING the crops and land of the people they invaded. I could blow you away with history here but read the free book online THE FINAL EMPIRE by William Kotke on www.rainbowbody.org I study and research the impact on diet on indigenous populations and analyze the history of disease on people around the world. Food plays a role in life span, disease and mental health. Also the best book, although it is hard for Americans to read, is called NUTRICIDE: THE NUTRITIONAL DESTRUCTION OF THE BLACK RACE by Dr. Llaya Africa or see Dr. Africa on youtube. European diets are killing the world - lets not play games here. European farming techniques are reducing the world drinkable water supply and genetically modified crops are doing more harm than good. You cannot make me believe otherwise. I will not wait for some scientist from BIG PHARMA or the AMA to tell me otherwise because I see it everyday in people. How fit are YOU??? Are you fit for your age? Want to ride with me 100 miles on a road bike? Want to play full court basketball? or run a 5 or 10K? Let's do it. However, I doubt you could do it right now. We are living in an age of Food tyrants running the farms.

[kennethketchum]

12:03 PM on 01/29/2012

My coke smoking days are decades behind me but my fitness regimen and lifestyle has and always will remain a staple in my life along with my sports nutrition eating patterns. I eat nothing with a face or a mother and keep my % of body fat around 14% from cycling, calisthenics (I do not believe in gyms although I used to work as a trainer for the NYSC, but only recommend them because I play basketball only at the gym), perfect pushups, bodyelastics resistance bands and yoga. I can run a 5K or ride in a 100 mile bike tour or play full court basketball at age 53 at the drop of a hat. I could never do any of that if I ate meat or foods with artificial flavors, colors, wheat, gluten, sugar, salt, or dairy products. It is all about know who you are as a person. That determines the type of food you should be eating.

[Unca Allen]

12:59 PM on 01/29/2012

Can't imagine what a diet without meat or wheat or gluten or sugar or salt or dairy products. You must live a miserable existence. Might as well not eat at all.

[kennethketchum]

01:24 PM on 01/29/2012

I eat: All produce including veggies, fruits All nuts and seeds
Fish with fins but not fish farmed, Rice noodles instead of wheat noodles, rice cakes and wraps instead of breads In fact, my diet is extremely flavorful, I juice 60% of what I eat with spinach, apples, pears, broccoli, beets, celery, cucumbers, ginger usually not available at commercial establishments. All of my friends do not share your belief that I am eating and living a "miserable existence", rather they follow my eating, juicing and blending regimen like Jack Lalanne. Even Tony Horton (P90X) is changing the way they tell people to eat. In 2008 when I purchased the P90X, they were promoting chicken and wheat and fish in their food book that came with the DVDs. As of this summer, their newsletters were posting warnings about the dangers of fish that was farmed raised and genetically modified corn that is feed to chickens. You unfortunately have had your taste buds manipulated, as most children do in this country, by the fast food and commercial food industry. My food would blow your taste buds away. Diabetes killed my mother, father, 2 brothers and is currently working on my world class chef brother KYLE KETCHUM (GOOGLE HIM) who was voted chef of the year in Michigan from 2006-06 and he is obese. I have had 3 siblings (2 deceased) who died from renal complications, they were both on dialysis, and another brother who just had his kidneys removed?

[kennethketchum]

02:00 PM on 01/29/2012

Try it. Go to a vegan restaurant or go to Chinatown (I live in NYC) and go to Vegan Chinese restaurants. Or better still start slowly, by eliminating all wheat/multi-grain, whole grain products for one week, then move to one month. You will lose 5-8 lbs in one month guaranteed. If you don't I will give you $100. That is a promise. No breads, pasta, bagels, pizzas, wraps made of wheat (there are rice wraps that are gluten and wheat free). Then move on to eliminating sugar. If bread or cooking/cakes had no sugar in them, would you still eat it? I use natural fruits for sweets. For example, I make oatmeal (hot or cold) using cut bananas and apples to sweet it. Or I would put the oats, bananas and apples in a blender with water or rice milk and make a serious smoothie. You see, you have not tried real foods because you are addicted to junk foods, just like a sugar junkie ( I am an addiction counselor). That is why you "can't imagine a diet without meat....." because you are addicted to sugar. It is ok. I used to be addicted to drugs. I will help you recover from your addiction. Start here:
http://marinecorpfitness.tripod.com/id12.html and when you are finished then start here for the solutions. Lets help one another.

[kennethketchum]

12:02 PM on 01/29/2012

McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and every other fast food chain has no concern about the public health, the environment (30% of methane gas is produced by cattle raising), obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, waste disposal (Styrofoam was recently identified by the World Health Organization as a carcinogen with egregious environmental impact), are all big polluters because of the food that they produce AND the containers and plastics that are disposed of both properly and improperly in the environment. They don't care about these issues and continue doing business as usual. When I see a NYC subway track infested with hundreds of plastic cans and containers from fast food restaurants, then I realize how the health of the community is impacted when rats and mice live off of the waste by-products from people littering. It is the public who should be admonished for supporting such people, restaurants and poor food choices, not Paula Deen. She is only doing what every multinational fast food chain is doing: poisoning the public. If all of these fast food restaurants were to close permanently, I guarantee you that obesity rates would drop 20-25% maybe more. If people didn't listen to Paula Deen or copy her recipes, then expect another 3-5% reduction in obesity related disorders. If this country stopped eating meat, then see another 10-15% reduction in obesity related illnesses.

[Unca Allen]

01:00 PM on 01/29/2012

You writing a book, Ketchum?

[kennethketchum]

01:50 PM on 01/29/2012

Yes, the title is THE NUTRITIONAL DESTRUCTION OF THE BLACK RACE PART 2.
The first book was written by Dr. Llayla Africa, in 1992. I believe that it is time for an update because GMO foods are more prevalent. Black people are killing themselves with their food choices. See FOOD MATTERS and FOOD, INC. and THE FUTURE OF FOOD on either www.hulu.com or WWW.topdocumentaryfilms.com In fact, see every health documentary on that site. Also visit http://www.sprword.com/mustwatch.html and see those documentaries and more. The food choices on the planet are being manipulated by multinational corporations that have reduced the diversity of crops that we eat. In Africa, 5% of the total food intake consisted of wheat, however, in American it is 50% (in hamburgers, etc.). That is too much mucus for the African body. 50% of black women suffer from fybroids - sisters should never be drinking milk containing the rBGH hormone manufactured by Monsanto. See my site for more info. Would you like to be a contributor for my book or documentary? kennethketchum"gmail.com