Michael Moss

Would you be surprised to know that junk food is not as addicting, but more addicting than drugs, tobacco or alcohol? Based on research for Michael Moss' upcoming new book, Hooked: Food and Free Will, it's true! MICHAEL MOSS explores how Big Food companies are working to exploit our eating habits at a time when our health has never mattered more. One needs only to look at a grocery store layout to see this in action - junk food is placed near the checkout areas and presented as a more attractive option than healthy foods.

Stress is one of the biggest drivers of emotional eating. Stressed and worried during this pandemic, we've been so busy paying attention to the news that we've lowered our guard and become vulnerable to a host of psychological tricks that encourage our unhealthy impulse buying -- even when we purchase groceries online. Who doesn't like a bargain? To get free shipping, we're pushed to add junk food at checkout.

In other words, Big Food companies are now translating their in-person techniques into the virtual world and due to COVID-19, we’re seeing an increase in the consumption of processed foods. Moss explains how we can avoid falling victim to marketing techniques through some simple steps to help us make more mindful choices and adopt a healthier lifestyle.  

Some of the most profitable food companies of the last half century are knowingly manipulating salt, sugar, and fat to addict us to their products. And it’s working. The industry rakes in a trillion dollars a year. Meanwhile, one in three adults, and one in five kids, is clinically obese, and the total economic cost of this health crisis is approaching $300 billion a year. How did we get here, and what can we do? In this compelling talk, MICHAEL MOSS offers an empowering narrative, grounded in meticulous, often eye-opening research. He takes us inside the labs where food scientists are enhancing the “mouthfeel” of fat by manipulating its chemical structure. He shows how food companies are adapting marketing techniques from tobacco companies, and expanding into new, international markets. And he talks to concerned executives who confess that they could never produce truly healthy alternatives to their products even if serious regulation became a reality. Based on the bestselling book that has started a necessary national conversation, Moss’s keynote offers an objective and sweeping take of the problems, and the many solutions. You will never look at a nutrition label, or the food on your plate, the same way again.

Acai bowls. Cold-pressed juices. Gluten-free snacks. The market surrounding health foods has exploded in recent years, and the conversation surrounding how diet contributes to a truly healthy lifestyle has grown increasingly louder. In this informative and empowering keynote, MICHAEL MOSS takes a deep dive into the world of health, wellness and “self-improvement,” providing science-backed, fact-based research on what actually works and how to avoid getting sucked into the latest fad. Debunking some prevalent myths, and providing audiences with simple and easy tools to promote healthy habits and reduce their reliance on salt, sugar and fat, Moss’ keynote leaves audience thinking and energized to make positive adjustments to their daily lives. Filled with humility and humor, Moss tailors his talk to every audience, ensuring it is accessible and actionable for audiences worldwide. 

What makes people tick and products popular? In this fascinating program, MICHAEL MOSS takes audiences inside the world of smart marketing, unpacking lessons from his New York Times Magazine cover story: Broccoli’s Extreme Makeover. Having worked with a leading advertising agency to create an experimental mass marketing campaign for broccoli, Moss reveals how the same masterful, strategic and, at times, manipulative, tactics of the biggest brands in the food industry (from Coca-Cola to General Mills) can work to sell any product regardless of its seeming unpopularity. Shedding light on the psychology, precise data collection and statistical analysis that goes into the most ingenious marketing campaigns, Moss provides actionable lessons and entertaining anecdotes for consumers and businesses alike, regardless of industry.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter MICHAEL MOSS sheds light on the state of journalism today, and the challenges of in-depth reporting in the age of click-bait headlines and fake news. From his on-the-ground reporting during the Iraq War to his work uncovering the dangers of contaminated meat, Moss takes audiences inside the at-times dangerous world of investigative journalism, revealing what it takes to obtain official documents, work with sources, and the painstaking process of fact-checking. Providing insightful and engaging commentary on how to address the public’s growing demand for reliable news sources, and why long-format, investigative journalism is hard to come by in today’s media environment, Moss’ talk is both a fascinating reflection on journalism’s past and a prescription for its future.