/ck/ - Food & Cooking

The American Heart Association exists only to advertise vegetable oil.

>Founded in 1924 at the outset of the heart disease epidemic, the group was a scientific society of cardiologists seeking to better understand this new affliction. For decades, the AHA was small and underfunded, with virtually no income. Then, in 1948, it got lucky: Procter & Gamble (P&G) designated the group to receive all the funds from its “Truth or Consequences” contest on the radio, raising $1,740,000, or $17 million in today’s dollars. At a luncheon, P&G executives presented a check to the AHA president, and “suddenly the coffers were filled and there were funds available for research, public health progress and development of local groups—all the stuff that dreams are made of!” according to the AHA’s official history. The P&G check was the “bang of big bucks” that “launched” the group. Indeed, one year later the group opened seven chapters across the country and collected $2,650,000 from donations. By 1960, it had more than three hundred chapters and brought in more than $30 million annually. With continued support from P&G and other food giants, the AHA would soon become the premiere heart disease group in the United States, as well as the largest not for profit group of any kind in the country.