The Brand Issue for Paula Deen is not Diabetes, but Deception

So Paula Deen has had type 2 diabetes for three years.  And for the past three years, Paula Deen continued to promote her products, specifically her cookbooks which are a culinary journey of indulgence - southern style.  Southern style cooking has a reputation for being high in calories as a result of being high in fat.  One of those recipes is Paula's "The Lady's Brunch Burger".  The Lady's Brunch Burger is a hamburger patty between two glazed donuts.  On PaulaDeen.com, the recipe is available without any nutritional information.  Similar to how Paula has kept her fans in the dark regarding her health, Paula keeps them in the dark regarding their own health.

This was Paula's differentiation strategy when other television cooking shows were about calories and cost consciousness, Paula was not.  Paula cast herself as the sweet lovable southern woman, dripping like molasses with her southern accent or drawl.  This role is embedded with trustworthiness as most people have favorable opinions of their grandmothers.  Grandmothers, generally, hold an honorary position in people's lives.  Paula knew what she was doing when she chose this brand framework.  It is a rather insulated image because anyone who calls Paula out would look like they are in favor of abusing the elderly.  It took someone like Anthony Bourdain, who cares little about popular opinion, to push the issue of Paula's unhealthy cooking.  Only after Paula admitted she had diabetes for the past three years was Anthony Bourdain redeemed.

Paula is deceptive, but she is not stupid.  Although, at this point, stupid would have been a better position to attempt a comeback from.  Paula and her sons are on an all out public relations campaign to remind people of the sweet lovable image, except Paula keeps saying that she never said people should eat like this all the time.  It seems as though, Paula is listening more to her lawyers than to her public relations manager.  Cooking is an everyday activity, for most people, so the likelihood that Paula's cookbooks would be used more than 4 times a year is high.  Paula's got options, though.  Paula is also promoting her sons' shows because they are now responsible for saving Paula's brand with low fat, low calorie recipe variations.  Paula is making the most of this publicity promoting her new role as a diabetes drug spokesperson while at the same time denying culpability and cross promoting her sons.

If Paula is astute enough to work the business angles now, then she was astute enough three years ago when she decided not to disclose her diabetes diagnosis.  It was a calculated decision to hide the diagnosis and it is a calculated decision to disclose - a necessity when a person becomes a diabetes drug spokesperson.  Diabetes is not the issue, the deception is the issue.  Mea Culpa, Paula Deen.