'A Super Bowl ad you probably missed — it only aired in the Washington, D.C., market — shows that the war between powerful food-industry interests and alternative protein companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods is being taken to a new level.
The Center for Consumer Freedom ran a Super Bowl commercial alleging that plant-based meat alternatives are not as healthy as consumers think. The group describes itself as a nonprofit “devoted to promoting personal responsibility and protecting consumer choices” and is funded by food industry players “from farm to fork.”
But there’s more to it. The Center for Consumer Freedom’s CEO, Richard Berman, is a well-known lobbyist who was once profiled by “60 Minutes” for his role antagonizing activist groups on behalf of industries like Big Tobacco. He also runs his own public relations firm, Berman and Co. — one of its listed services being “creative advertising.”'
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