Another day, another corporate P.R. team schooled in the importance of thinking before you tweet. Or, in this case, for thinking before you print something that looks like a tweet, and which comes off as kind of dismissive to the very important role of food scientists, on a yogurt lid.
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It seems that what Chobani was attempting to do was to capitalize on consumer demand for "natural" food, a category that, unfortunately, is a bit vaguely defined. Its mistake, however, was in trying to set "natural" -- which it uses to refer to the absence of artificial preservatives, flavors and sweeteners -- in opposition to "science." In so doing, as many were quick to point out, it ignored the massive amount of scientific expertise needed to mass-produce 100 calorie cups of Greek yogurt.
Savvy consumers, it turns out, proved capable of understanding that being opposed to the unsavory practices of the food industry and Big Ag doesn't entail being against all science -- because that would make them no better than climate deniers, creationists, anti-vaxxers and the like.
In a mass of pro-science fury, fans co-opted Chobani's #HowMatters hashtag to set the company straight:
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Chobani, to its credit, was quick to acknowledge the mistake and insist, from the outset, that it in no way hates science, scientists or Louis Pasteur. Finally, Thursday evening, the company gave up on trying to respond to every complaint individually, and issued a final mea culpa:
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