Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised boxing legend Mike Tyson on Sunday for appearing in an emotional Super Bowl ad that discussed his junk-food addiction and promoted healthy eating.
“It’s an extraordinarily powerful ad,” Kennedy told The Sunday Briefing on Fox News. “I think it’s the most important ad in Super Bowl history.”
The official said junk foods are a form of “spiritual warfare” on Americans that has caused “ruinous” effects for the nation’s health.
Kennedy said that Tyson was originally given a script for the ad, but quickly began sharing his own personal experiences with food.
In the clip, shared Friday, Tyson talks about his sister’s death due to obesity-related complications and his own past addiction to junk food.
“I was so fat and nasty, I would eat anything,” Tyson says in the black-and-white ad, which features the boxer eating fresh fruit and speaking directly to the camera. “I was like 345 pounds.”
“Something has to be done about processed food in this country,” he adds. The video directs viewers to RealFood.gov, the Trump administration’s new website featuring its revised healthy eating guidelines, which emphasize cutting out processed foods.
The ad is sponsored by MAHA Center Inc., a governmental advocacy group aligned with Kennedy.
The group is led by Tony Lyons, a Kennedy ally who also heads an MAHA fundraising group.
Lindsey Smith Taillie, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, told The New York Times the ad’s emphasis on shame might be counterproductive.
“It certainly isn’t an effective strategy for promoting better eating, individual shame,” she said.
Experts have praised the administration’s efforts around promoting whole foods, though they have expressed reservations about its new food pyramid, which emphasizes cutting out processed foods and features an inverted pyramid shape with meat, cheese, and dairy in a prominent position.
“What first stood out to me is the new inverted pyramid, where meat, butter and whole milk were given really striking prominence,” Susan Mayne, professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, said in a recent interview with a university website. “Protein is emphasized but not plant-based proteins such as beans.”
“This pyramid conveys a shaky foundation, which is ironically consistent with some of the underlying science,” she added.
