Big Food pays conservative influencers to defend soda
The food industry is paying conservative influencers to argue that soda should not be restricted from food stamp purchases.
Soda is the single most common purchase by recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Members of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement—including Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins—have been advocating for soda and other junk to be excluded from the SNAP program. Research shows that ultra-processed food products, particularly junk food, contain empty calories and cause food addictions that likely leave SNAP recipients hungrier and unhealthier. This push to ban junk food from food stamps, already introduced as legislation in states like Texas, has been met with fierce resistance from the food industry. Food giants like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are working through their lobbying force, the American Beverage Association (ABA), to block attempts at barring soda purchases with food stamps. The ABA, in turn, uses a number of tools at its disposal. One of those is Influenceable, a company that pays influencers to promote certain campaigns.
On Sunday, journalist Nick Sortor revealed that Influenceable has paid several Right-wing influencers to advocate for keeping soda on SNAP, framing it as government overreach. Over a 48-hour period, they wrote nearly identical posts.
The X user Clown World, for example, told his three million followers: “The government wants to block soda purchases from Americans on SNAP. Remember when NYC tried this and it completely backfired? President Trump proudly had a Diet Coke button in the Oval Office. This is ridiculous government overreach. Let people decide for themselves.”
Conservative commentator Eric Daugherty similarly told his over 392,000 followers: “IMPORTANT: We can not allow ‘Make America Healthy Again’ messaging to be used to force needy Americans into not buying certain things. Some officials in D.C. are working on trying to prevent Americans on SNAP from using those benefits to purchase *any* soda. Remember when New York City Democrats tried to prevent people from buying and consuming soda? It backfired big time. President Trump literally has a Diet Coke button in his Oval Office. Let people think and decide for themselves. Anyone can consume soda and be perfectly fine, in moderation. Unless we are just going to ban every food with sugar in it for SNAP Americans?”
The users Not Jerome Powell, Chad Prather, and reporter Ian Miles Cheong all published similar posts.
‘ZERO of them disclosed they were paid’
Sortor published screenshots showing Influendeable’s talking points for conservative influencers, which included government overreach, personal choice, and Trump’s preference for Diet Coke. The company reportedly offered the users between several hundred to over a thousand dollars per post. Sortor noted that none of the influencers disclosed they were being paid by Influenceable.
“Every influencer contacted by ‘Influenceable’ met the same criteria: supposedly MAGA-aligned,” Sortor wrote. “This was all meant to manipulate their followers, which trust them for news and opinions, into siding with Big Soda. A grand total of ZERO of them disclosed they were paid to push a stance on proposed regulations.”
Some conservative influencers refused Influenceable’s offer. Riley Gaines says her reaction was “a big fat heck no,” while Clown World claims to have deleted the post within an hour and withdrawn from the campaign. “I made a post and deleted it within the first hour. I withdrew from the campaign entirely and removed my post. I haven’t received a single penny from ‘Big Soda’ or anyone else for this.” Eric Daugherty also reportedly deleted his post within the first 24 hours, forfeiting his payout.
