• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 24, 2016

As you undoubtedly know, the annual boondoggle, ahem, marketing conference SXSW is fast approaching. What was once a quaint gathering of geeks and a few of us on the front lines and fringes of, what shall I call it, new wave marketing (?), has transformed itself into an epically overblown circus of marketing madness on steroids. 

And yet, there is still something about it that beckons despite the annual pseudo-protest from those who believe they appear cool bashing the event. Agencies, of course, are now well represented during SXSW. 

Last summer, MullenLowe Group asked employees to pitch their passion projects for the SXSW PanelPicker and earn a ride to Austin. Ideas rolled in and one which rose to the top, Eat This Panel (If You Dare): Food Myths Debunked, was selected for inclusion. 

The panel will take place Sunday, March 13, 5-6pm at The Driskill in the Maximillian room. 

Tony Labriola, SVP, group account director, food & health at MullenLowe US, will take on nutrition and health bloggers in an effort to separate the myths from realities. It's a contentious sector with so-called experts espousing factoids as if they were gospel which, of course, they are since we all know gospel is derived from belief, not actual fact. 

In an effort to debunk these so-called social media "experts" who are often able to convince the masses that rumors and myths are realities, Labriola has assembled a panel of actual health experts who can, you know, share actual facts about health and nutrition and, perhaps, debunk the ceaseless streams of health and nutrition factoids which masquerade as fact. 

Joining Labriola on the panel will be Alan Levinovitz, PhD, Professor at James Madison University and author of "The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What You Eat;" James Hamblin MD, Senior Editor of The Atlantic Monthly and Yvette d’Entremont, (SciBabe) science blogger and former analytical chemist. 

We are told "Light will be shed on the consequences of diet fads and food allergy hype. You might leave eating gluten again." 

Let the battle begin.