A Wag Of My Finger: American Express Launches Partnership with Dunkin' Donuts on World Health Day! REALLY?

Really, American Express? You chose World HEALTH Day to announce your unfortunate partnership with Dunkin' Donuts? I am in shock at how out of touch you must be. What's good for business is not always good for the people who pay you. And where would you be without us?

In the midst of a national obesity crisis (72+ million) , skyrocketing type 2 diabetes diagnoses, food companies saving face by publicly announcing cuts in salts and fats, and the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, you brilliantly decide to give your card-wielding members the privilege of stuffing themselves with cream-filled insulin shots for a go at free money. Why?!

Now, as Living Editor at the Huffington Post, I get a lot of interesting emails, but your press release stopped me dead in my tracks. Particularly the following:

Now, every time a Blue, Blue Cash, or Blue Sky Cardmember shops four times in a calendar month at any Dunkin' Donuts restaurant nationwide using their American Express Card, they will receive a $5 Dunkin' Donuts Card.

Are you proud of this? I can only imagine the excitement with which you co-wrote the press release with Dunkin Donuts' New York PR machine--probably while sipping on Skinny Soy Lattes from Starbucks. This partnership is so outrageously ridiculous, that the only thing I can do is quote my man Stephen Colbert and wag my finger at you!

Why not partner with a company working hard to provide more affordable healthy options?

And guess what? There is no limit to the number of Dunkin' Donuts Cards you can receive! Now, I acknowledge that some of us may have the self-control to only purchase coffee at one of Dunkin Donuts' fine establishments, but for 15 million Americans suffering from binge eating disorder and untold millions suffering from food addiction (yes, millions of people are biochemically addicted to high sugar and fat content in certain foods!), self-control is not an option.

Chevese Turner is the CEO and Founder of Binge Eating Disorder Association. She believes rewarding people with food is not a wise decision on the part of American Express. "From the eating disorder viewpoint and also the world of food addiction we're concerned when there's any sort of marketing movement that encourages food as a reward," she said. "Corporations need to think about the ramifications of something like this. Would they hand out gift certificates for alcohol or cigarettes?"

Well, maybe that's what American Express wants--an addiction to Dunkin' Donuts means the machine keeps spinning.

According to the release, Dunkin' Donuts is the first dining partner to join The Blue Savings Program.

Hey, American Express, why don't you quit while you're ahead! Maybe you can partner with Dunkin' Donuts to power our planes with its unused hydrogenated oils instead. Now that's a partnership I'd spend my points on.

 

Follow Alana B. Elias Kornfeld on Twitter: www.twitter.com/alanaekornfeld

Comments

[BebeLush]

11:22 AM on 04/09/2010

I'm a bit of a health food nut, but even I indulge in a donut once in a while. They key is moderation. Still Dunkin' Donuts is hardly a pseudonym for good health.

[Irene Rubaum-Keller]

08:13 PM on 04/08/2010

Great blog Alana and great point being made. What's funny is that there is an add right below your blog for jobs at Dunkin Donuts, which I'm sure you have nothing to do with. We need three things: a change in our optimal default foods in this country, more education (which we here at Huff Po are trying to accomplish), and more personal responsibility. Those three things should lead us to better health! Onward!

[Alana Kornfeld]

11:43 PM on 04/08/2010

Oh wow! That's unfortunate. And, yes, I have NOTHING to do with that!!

[UltimateLifestyle]

04:46 PM on 04/08/2010

Yikes, a PR disaster.

A finger is being wagged on this side of the world too.

Lara Jane
Founder of the Ultimate Lifestyle Project
http://ultimatelifestyleproject.com/spiritual-quotient

[Faith James]

12:33 PM on 04/08/2010

The best place for donuts here in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts is not Dunkin Donuts..but Heavenly Donuts...they use canola oil for their donuts..and they have a variety that would put Dunkins to shame...and they have great baked goods too....

[jsgaetano]

11:32 AM on 04/08/2010

Dunkin Donuts is (sadly) now owned by The Carlyle Group- crooks and war profiteers extraordinare.

I'll never go there so long as they have such a soulless parent company.

[Conk]

10:53 AM on 04/08/2010

The ONLY thing Dunkin Donuts sells that is healthy is black coffee.

[KIVPossum]

02:00 AM on 04/08/2010

It's cruel for HP to put this article up for me to read with my morning coffee.

There's no Dunkin Donuts here. No donuts at all.

Now, all day I'll think about a dozen hot glazed Dunkin Donuts and a box of donut holes.

[garystartswithg]

12:16 AM on 04/08/2010

donuts made better because you can eat them today and pay for them next year! homer is rejoicing. i stopped going to dunkin donuts after the michelle malkin/rachel ray fiasco. you know what i found out? i make a lot better coffee than dunkin donuts.

[WildBoarPhx]

12:12 AM on 04/08/2010

Lamentably obvious that the writer hasn't darkened the door of a Dunkin' Donuts recently. I eat there several mornings a week and haven't bought a donut in years. It's the only chain that offers an egg white sandwich on flatbread with turkey sausage or just veggies, plus their coffee is way better (and less expensive) than Starbucks.

[es2189]

07:04 AM on 04/08/2010

Yes, I know their coffee is VERY popular. Yes, I've seen their egg white on flatbread sandwiches. But they're called Dunkin DONUTS and I can tell you when I see people lined up in the morning, they are more often than not coming out with donuts. On the one day of the year designated to promote healthy eating, it seems strange to announce a partnership with a company that has in its NAME a sugary, fatty almost 300 calorie snack that almost surely won't leave you feeling full and satisfied.

[Alana Kornfeld]

11:45 PM on 04/08/2010

WildBoarPhx - thank you for your comment, but sadly you have missed the point -- you are focusing on the "healthy" options they are offering rather than the fact they are making this announcement on World Health Day and are still instituting a food incentive program that is dangerous given the state of our country.

[mi casa]

10:44 PM on 04/07/2010

dunkin donuts make good coffee

[lj9283]

10:26 PM on 04/07/2010

Can the get Dunkin' Doughnuts declared a vegetable so that they can sell them school cafateria lunch programs?

[IkkoIkki]

10:10 PM on 04/07/2010

who hates donuts? seriously, donuts are scrumptious. hating donuts is like hating jesus, your grandma and rainbows

[garystartswithg]

12:18 AM on 04/08/2010

donuts taste like yeast rolls soaked in a deep fryer and covered in sugar-type substances. you are more than welcome to have all of mine too. just don't send me the bill for scraping all the crap out of your arteries.

[IkkoIkki]

10:04 AM on 04/08/2010

oh, come on. you're being hysterical. donuts are fine in moderation, just like any sugary ,sweet treat

[leajazz]

12:45 AM on 04/08/2010

I do. How can you compare flour fried in fat and covered with sugar to Jesus, grandma and especially rainbows?

[Bigredhunk]

10:06 PM on 04/07/2010

I went to one in Naperville a couple of years ago, and couldn't believe how average their doughnuts were! This is a place that specializes in doughnuts!! My local SuperTarget bakery has better-tasting fare. KK is good once and a while, if you want 1 fresh glazed with your coffee (crazy sweet though). Too bad all of them closed in IA.

DD's coffee by the bag is really good, but I can't buy it anymore b/c of the new ownership.

[sheoples]

09:42 PM on 04/07/2010

kill off americans through wallet and belly at one time.....

[Ihatepoliticians]

09:10 PM on 04/07/2010

This writer is not informed. It is well known that Dunkin Donuts sells more coffee than anyone. In the northeast the stores are more than 70 percent beverages. Donuts are not the major category for them even though the name would lead you to believe otherwise. Starbucks is no different than these guys so before you judge or write an article DO SOME RESEARCH! Just another example of journalism leading people to an ignorant conclusion. Maybe she should write for Fox.

[NHBill]

09:43 PM on 04/07/2010

They ditched the hydrogenated oils and trans fats too.
Even in the donuts.
It ruined them though.