For Michael Miller, president of Brown-Miller Communications, there were numerous lessons learned while working to help pass menu-labeling legislation (SB 1420) in California. Chief among them:
• Do your research: “You have to have your ducks in a row in terms of science,” he says. “But you also must be able to translate this research so consumers can understand.”
• Try to outthink your opposition: “The Restaurant Association [that was mobilizing the opposition to the bill] was throwing everything they had at us,” notes Miller. “We needed to presume what their next argument might be and be prepared for it.”
• When you’re working in the public affairs arena, build the strongest case you can: “This is a political process. Some things don’t always follow the obvious pattern you expect,” explains Miller. “[For instance, in the first year,] we got passage from the legislation but then we got the governor’s veto. The arguments [of the opposition] were being carried by the public and not by the public health advocates.”