Rentabilidad a costa de la salud. Comunicación corporativa irresponsable en la industria de suplementos
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26441/RC23.1-2024-3357Palabras clave:
transparencia, comunicación corporativa, responsabilidad social corporativa, suplementos, divulgación, claridad, precisión, salud públicaResumen
La creciente preocupación por la salud y la nutrición ha propiciado la proliferación del consumo de suplementos alimenticios a nivel mundial. En Europa, el tamaño del mercado alcanzó los 13.300 millones de euros en 2022. Sin embargo, los consumidores continúan desinformados sobre la realidad de unos productos que se siguen presentando como remedios incluso para las enfermedades más graves. En el contexto de estas organizaciones, en las que los vacíos legales han permitido que la rentabilidad desplace a la ética, urge analizar el grado de (ir)responsabilidad de las empresas en la gestión de la transparencia de la información que facilitan al consumidor. Este trabajo evalúa la transparencia en la comunicación corporativa de las empresas de suplementos, explorando tres dimensiones en la información proporcionada: divulgación, claridad y precisión. Se llevó a cabo un enfoque cuantitativo y estadística descriptiva utilizando χ2, a partir de un análisis de contenido de 103 sitios web corporativos. Este corpus abarca todo el universo de empresas que invirtieron en publicidad digital entre los años 2017 y 2021. Los resultados muestran que el 61,2% de las empresas no se declaran socialmente responsables en sus páginas web, y sólo 13 de 113 han emitido informes de transparencia; la información sobre los productos es confusa en el 45,6% de las empresas y escasa en el 19,4%; los ingredientes están ausentes en más de la mitad del corpus, y se omite la evidencia empírica en el 83,5% de las empresas.
Métricas
Citas
Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (AESAN) [Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition]. (2019). Memoria del Sistema coordinado de Intercambio Rápido de Información. Año 2018. [Report on the Coordinated System for Rapid Exchange of Information]. https://www.aesan.gob.es/AECOSAN/docs/documentos/alertas/sciri/MEMORIA_ALERTAS_SCIRI_2018.pdf
Albu, O. B., & Flyverbom, M. (2019). Organizational transparency: Conceptualizations, conditions, and consequences. Business & Society, 58(2), 268- 297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650316659851 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650316659851
American Cancer Society. (2015). Dietary supplements What is safe? https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/complementary-and-alternative-medicine/dietary-supplements/intro.html
Asociación de Investigadores en eSalud. [Association of eHealth Investigators] (2020). II Informe sobre Bulos en Salud. [II Report on Health Fraud Scams]. https://saludsinbulos.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/es-II-estudio-bulos-salud.pdf
Bacinello, E., Tontini, G. & Alberton, A. (2020). Influence of corporate social responsibility on sustainable practices of small and medium‐sized enterprises: implications on business performance. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 28(2), 776-785. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2087 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2087
Boletín Oficial del Estado [Official State Gazette]. (2007). Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, de 16 de noviembre, por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de la Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios. [Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, Approving The Revised Text Of The General Law For The Protection Of Consumers And Users]. https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2007-20555
Bowen, H. R. (1953). Social responsibilities of the businessman. Harper.
Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational Psychological Measurement, 20(1), 37-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000104 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000104
Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2013). The pseudo‐panopticon: The illusion created by CSR‐related transparency and the internet. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18(2), 212-227. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563281311319490 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/13563281311319490
Demir, M., & Min, M. (2019). Consistencies and discrepancies in corporate social responsibility reporting in the pharmaceutical industry. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 10(2), 333-364. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-03-2018-0094 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-03-2018-0094
Diers-Lawson, A., Coope, K. & Tench, R. (2020). Why can CSR seem like putting lipstick on a pig? Evaluating CSR authenticity by comparing practitioner and consumer perspectives. Journal of Global Responsibility, 11(4), 329-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-02-2020-0033 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-02-2020-0033
Eisenberg, E. M. (1984). Ambiguity as strategy in organizational communication. Communication Monographs, 51(3), 227-242. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03637758409390197
Elbing, A. & Elbing C. (1967). The Value Issue of Business. McGraw-Hill.
Euromonitor International. (2023). Sales on Consumer Health in Spain.
European Parliament and Council. (2006). Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2006/1924/2014-12-13
European Parliament and Council. (2011). Regulation (EC) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/1169/oj
European Parliament and Council. (2014). Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2014/651/oj
European Parliament and Council. (2014). Regulation (EU) No 2014/95 of 22 October 2014 of disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32014L0095
European Parliament and Council. (2021). Regulation (EU) No. 2019/1381 on the transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment in the food chain. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1381/oj
Flyverbom, M. (2019). The digital prism. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316442692
Friedman, M. (1982). Capitalism and Freedom. The University of Chicago Press.
García-Arranz, A., Perelló-Oliver, S., & Muela-Molina, C. (2021). The Role of Radio Personalities as Endorsers of Food Supplements. An Analysis of Health-Related Claims (H-RCs) on Spanish Radio Mentions. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, (79), 263-281. https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2021-1511 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2021-1511
Geller, A. I., Shehab, N., Weidle, N. J., Lovegrove, M. C., Wolpert, B. J., Timbo, B. B., ... & Budnitz, D. S. (2015). Emergency department visits for adverse events related to dietary supplements. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(16), 1531-1540. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1504267
Ghosh, S. (2020). Narrative analysis of annual reports—a study of corporate social disclosure in the pre-and post-mandate period. In N. Mitra, & R. Schmidpeter (Eds.), Mandated Corporate Social Responsibility (pp. 45-83). Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24444-6_4
Ginder, W., Kwon, W. S. & Byun, S. E. (2021). Effects of internal–external congruence-based CSR positioning: an attribution theory approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 169(2), 355-369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04282-w DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04282-w
Global Self- Care Federation. (2020). Understanding trust in self- care. https://www.selfcarefederation.org/resources/understanding-trust-self-care
Gosselin, A. M., Le Maux, J., & Smaili, N. (2021). Readability of accounting disclosures: a comprehensive review and research agenda, Accounting Perspectives, 20(4), 543-581. https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12275 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12275
Harris, E. S., Cao, S., Littlefield, B. A., Craycroft, J. A., Scholten, R., Kaptchuk, T., ... & Eisenberg, D. M. (2011). Heavy metal and pesticide content in commonly prescribed individual raw Chinese Herbal Medicines. Science of the Total Environment, 409(20), 4297-4305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.07.032 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.07.032
Higgins, C., Tang, S. & Stubbs, W. (2020). On managing hypocrisy: the transparency of sustainability reports. Journal of Business Research, 114, 395- 407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.08.041 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.08.041
Hoffjann, O. (2021). Between strategic clarity and strategic ambiguity–oscillating strategic communication. Corporate Communications:An International Journal, 27(2), 284- 303. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-03-2021-0037 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-03-2021-0037
Holland, D., Seltzer, T., & Kochigina, A. (2021). Practicing transparency in a crisis: examining the combined effects of crisis type, response, and message transparency on organizational perceptions. Public Relations Review, 47(2), 102017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2021.102017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2021.102017
Homer, P. M. & Mukherjee, S. (2019). Lay theories and consumer perceptions of dietary supplements. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 18(5), 363-377. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1776 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1776
Hopp, T. & Fisher, J. (2020). A psychological model of transparent communication effectiveness. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 26(2), 403- 419. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-01-2020-0009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-01-2020-0009
Ipsos - European Public Affairs. (2022). Europeans’ attitudes towards food supplements. https://foodsupplementseurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/FSE-Consumer_Survey-Ipsos-2022.pdf
Jordan, J., Peek, J. & Rosengren, E. (2000). The market reaction to the disclosure of supervisory actions: Implications for bank transparency. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 9(3), 298-319. https://doi.org/10.1006/jfin.2000.0292 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/jfin.2000.0292
Kennett, G. (2019). Time for change: stepping up the FDA's regulation of dietary supplements to promote consumer safety and awareness. Journal of Law and Health, 33(1), 47-78.
Kesselheim, A. S., Connolly, J., Rogers, J. & Avorn, J. (2015). Mandatory disclaimers on dietary supplements do not reliably communicate the intended issues. Health Affairs, 34(3), 438-446. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0515 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0515
Kickbusch, I., Allen, L. & Franz, C. (2016). The commercial determinants of health. Lancet Global Health, 4(12), e895-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(16)30217-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(16)30217-0
Koinig, I., Diehl, S. & Mueller, B. (2017). Health Communication and Integrated Corporate Social Responsibility. In S. Diehl, M. Karmasin, B. Mueller, R. Terlutter and F. Weder (Eds.), Handbook of Integrated CSR Communication (pp. 471-494). Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44700-1_26
Kulkarni, A., Huerto, R., Roberto, C. A. & Austin, S. B. (2017). Leveraging corporate social responsibility to improve consumer safety of dietary supplements sold for weight loss and muscle building. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 7(1), 92- 97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-016-0434-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-016-0434-4
Lee, T. H. (2021). Exploring the explicitness, salience of ethics and transparency of messages in social reports: a cross-national longitudinal content analysis from an institutional perspective. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 26(2), 279- 295. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2020-0071 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2020-0071
Lee, T. H., & Boynton, L. A. (2017). Conceptualizing transparency: Propositions for the integration of situational factors and stakeholders’ perspectives. Public Relations Inquiry, 6(3), 233-251. https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X17694937 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X17694937
Levitt, T. (1958). The Dangers of Social Responsibility. Harvard Business Review, 36(5), 41-50.
Loughran, T., & McDonald, B. (2016). Textual analysis in accounting and finance: A survey. Journal of Accounting Research, 54(4), 1187-1230. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679X.12123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679X.12123
Martínez-Sanz, J. M., Mata, F., Sala, M., Puya, J. M., Martínez, A., Sánchez, A. J. & Cortell-Tormo, J. M. (2021). Fraud in nutritional supplements for athletes: a narrative review. Nutrición Hospitalaria, 38(4), pp. 839-847. http://dx.doi.org/10.20960/nh.03413 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20960/nh.03413
Mason, M. J. & Scammon, D. L. (2011). Unintended consequences of health supplement information regulations: the importance of recognizing consumer motivations. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 45(2), 201-223. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2011.01200.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2011.01200.x
Mitnick, B. M., Windsor, D., & Wood, D. J. (2022). Moral CSR. Business & Society, 62(1), 192-220. https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503221086881 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503221086881
Mitra, A., Hastak, M., Ringold, D. J., & Levy, A. S. (2019). Consumer skepticism of claims in food ads vs. on food labels: an exploration of differences and antecedents. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 53(4), 1443-1455. https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12237 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12237
Muela-Molina, C., Perelló-Oliver, S., & García-Arranz, A. (2021). False and misleading health-related claims in food supplements on Spanish radio: an analysis from a European Regulatory Framework. Public Health Nutrition, 24(15), 5156- 5165. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980021002007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980021002007
Nwobu, O. A. (2021). Corporate social responsibility and the public health imperative: accounting and reporting on public health”. In B. Orlando (Ed.), Corporate Social Responsibility. IntechOpen. https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/74802
Raimo, N., Vitolla, F., Marrone, A., & Rubino, M. (2020). The role of ownership structure in integrated reporting policies. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(6), 2238-2250. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2498 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2498
Royne, M. B., Myers, S. D., Deitz, G. & Fox, A. K. (2016). Risks, benefits, and competitive interference: consumer perceptions of prescription drug versus dietary supplement advertising, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 37(1), 59- 79. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2015.1119769 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2015.1119769
Schnackenberg, A. K. & Tomlinson, E. C. (2014). Organizational transparency: a new perspective on managing trust in organization-stakeholder relationships. Journal of Management, 42(7), 1784-1810. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314525202 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314525202
Schnackenberg, A. K., Tomlinson, E., & Coen, C. (2020). The dimensional structure of transparency: a construct validation of transparency as disclosure, clarity, and accuracy in organizations. Human Relations, 74(10), 1628-1660. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726720933317 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726720933317
Tiep Le, T., Ngo, H. Q., & Aureliano-Silva, L. (2023). Contribution of corporate social responsibility on SMEs' performance in an emerging market–the mediating roles of brand trust and brand loyalty. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 18(8), 1868- 1891. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-12-2020-1516 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-12-2020-1516
Tucker, J., Fischer, T., Upjohn, L., Mazzera, D., & Kumar, M. (2018). Unapproved pharmaceutical ingredients included in dietary supplements associated with US Food and Drug Administration warnings. JAMA network open, 1(6), e183337.https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.3337 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.3337
U. S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). (2019). Health Fraud Scams. https://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/protectyourself/healthfraud/default.htm
Van Marrewijk, M. (2003). Concepts and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: Between agency and communion. Journal of Business Ethics, 44(2), 95- 105. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023331212247 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023331212247
Wallace, E. D., Oberlies, N. H., Cech, N. B. & Kellogg, J. J. (2018). Detection of adulteration in Hydrastis canadensis (goldenseal) dietary supplements via untargeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 120, 439- 447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2018.07.033 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2018.07.033
Weaven, S., Quach, S., Thaichon, P., Frazer, L., Billot, K. & Grace, D. (2021). Surviving an economic downturn: dynamic capabilities of SMEs. Journal of Business Research, 128, 109-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.02.009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.02.009
Descargas
Publicado
Cómo citar
Número
Sección
Licencia
Derechos de autor 2024 Revista de Comunicación
Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0.
Datos de los fondos
-
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Números de la subvención PID2020-112781RBI00