Florida Doc Angers Dunkin’ Donuts With Doughnut-Bashing Sign, Loses Job

Dr. Jason Newsom, of Bay County, Florida, did not spare the fast food industry’s feelings as he tried to wage a local war on overeating and obesity. In his position as the head of the Bay County, Florida Health Department, he supported an agenda dedicated to improving local public health.

One way he decided to execute this agenda was to call attention to certain high fat, nutrient poor foods using an electronic sign outside the Health Department. Various messages were splashed across the digitized board, including: “French fries = thunder thighs,” and the message that ultimately cost him his job, “America Dies on Dunkin’.”

Checkmate. At long last, Dr. Newsom – a man known for serving in Iraq as an Army physician, a passion for health and medicine, publicly hating on doughnuts, and unknown for displaying social restraint – had called out a specific brand, giving local Dunkin’ Donuts owners grounds to involve higher governmental powers. Mike Thomas, the County Commissioner, called for his dismissal from his position, calling him a “zealot.”

In an unrelated story, Mike Thomas is the owner of a Doughnut shop. Oh… wait…

Soon thereafter, Dr. Newsom resigned from his position.

Doughnuts, in all their gooey, sprinkled, chocolaty, jelly-filled glory, have a history of polarizing communities. Back in ’07, a group of three enraged older Americans demonstrated against a doughnut ban outside their local senior center. They wielded signs stating, “I’m old enough to choose” and, “They’re carbs, not contraband.”

Alright, that last paragraph was just for fun. In all seriousness, the issue with Dr. Newsom brings up a recurring theme: public health vs. corporations, and a microcosm of that theme: nutrition vs. the food industry. (Hmph. Could this be why The Faster Times has a sub-section dedicated to food politics?) Should a doctor be forced to resign his position for attacking food that is a known contributor to the overall poor diet quality of Americans, even if he is going after a specific brand? This woman says no.

Photo by Flirty Kitty

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