Krispy Kreme Kids’ Health Clinic Sparks Controversy
Yahoo Parenting
Posted On October 28, 2015
A University of North Carolina children’s health clinic was rebranded the Krispy Kreme Challenge Children’s Specialty Clinic on Oct. 14.
In the grand tradition of Jobing.com Arena and the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, the University of North Carolina’s NC Children’s Specialty Clinic was just rebranded as the Krispy Kreme Challenge Children’s Specialty Clinic, Gawker reports. The website points out the irony: “A place that’s designed to increase health will bear the trademark of a company that profits from destroying health.”
A clinic spokesperson tells Gawker that some people may see the new name and think they “sold out” to a company that makes a killing on unhealthy foods, but that criticism is overblown because the name isn’t technically connected to the doughnut chain itself. According to a UNC press release, the children’s specialty clinic was actually named after the Krispy Kreme Challenge—an event wherein participants eat 12 doughnuts while running five miles in an hour that was started by NC State students on a dare in 2004.
The clinic spokesperson tells Gawker that Krispy Kreme has no involvement in the challenge or connection to the clinic’s renaming. “We’re disappointed that a small minority of people have jumped to that conclusion,” the spokesperson says. “They couldn’t be more wrong.”
The Krispy Kreme Challenge is run by students and has raised nearly $1 million for the clinic—which treats feeding and swallowing issues and consults on diabetes—since 2006 and plans to raise another million by 2020, according to the press release. “Anyone worried about the future of this country should spend just 30 or 40 minutes with these remarkable students,” the clinic’s chief physician tells WRAL. “I come away impressed after every interaction.”
