Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca-Cola

In this talk, Greenhalgh (Professor of Chinese Society Emerita at Harvard University) tells the story of how, during 1995-2015, industry leader Coca-Cola mobilized allies in academia to create a soda-defense science that would protect profits by advocating exercise, not dietary restraint, as the priority solution to obesity, a view few experts accept. Drawing insights and methods from anthropology and science studies, Greenhalgh describes a hidden world of science-making — with distinctive organizations, social networks, knowledge-making practices, and ethical claims — dedicated to creating industry-friendly science and keeping it under wraps. Tracing the impact of this project of corporate corruption of science in two sites — the U.S. and China — Greenhalgh unearths the ways giant corporations come to shape our diets, lifestyles, and health to their own needs. This talk draws from her 2024 book of the same title.