The United Soybean Board is a finalist for the 2026 PRWeek Awards for a communications campaign designed to counter misinformation about seed oils and provide science-based information to consumers and health professionals.
Paul Murphy-Spooner, senior director of external communications for the United Soybean Board, says the effort began after the organization noticed growing misinformation spreading online.
“We started seeing significant pickup on seed oils and conversations happening with fringe audiences,” Murphy-Spooner said. “There wasn’t really a strong pro-seed oil perspective based on the science to counter this narrative about toxicity, inflammation and obesity.”
Murphy-Spooner says the campaign focused first on building a scientific foundation. US Soy partnered with the corn and canola commodity groups to develop a peer-reviewed manuscript examining the health benefits of seed oils. The research was coordinated through Soy Nutrition Institute Global and published in the British Journal of Nutrition.
“We wanted to make sure we started with the science and aggregated the research that already existed, but specifically used the vernacular ‘seed oil’ in the scientific literature,” Murphy-Spooner says. “That gave us a credible place to begin the conversation.”
Online interest in the topic grew rapidly. Murphy-Spooner says Google searches for “are seed oils bad for you?” increased by 900 percent, while the #SeedOils hashtag generated more than 8 million engagements across TikTok and Instagram.
“To us, those numbers showed that people were looking for answers,” he says. “We wanted to make sure that vetted, science-based and approachable information was available when they went searching.”
US Soy responded by launching a digital Seed Oil Hub, designed to centralize research and answer common consumer questions about seed oils, including heart health, inflammation and food processing.
“The Seed Oil Hub really became the centerpiece,” Murphy-Spooner says. “It allowed us to house the science and give people a place to find reliable facts.”
The campaign used multiple communications channels to reach audiences. Google Ads, influencer partnerships with registered dietitians and national media outreach helped drive traffic to the hub.
“Our Google Ads campaign had a 34 percent click-through rate, which was 17 times higher than the benchmark,” Murphy-Spooner says. “That showed there was a real appetite with people clamoring to learn more about this often confusing topic.”
The campaign also generated coverage in national outlets including the New York Post, CBS News, EatingWell and Men’s Health.
Murphy-Spooner says collaboration across commodities was key to the effort.
“Our farmers grow multiple commodities,” he says. “Working together allowed us to pool our knowledge and reach more people with the actual benefits that seed oils provide an essential fatty acid that our bodies need to function.”
The campaign also highlighted the economic role seed oils play in the US food system. Research shows removing seed oils could increase the consumer price index for fats and oils, costing Americans an additional $7.7 billion annually.
Murphy-Spooner says the campaign ultimately focused on providing consumers and health professionals with clear, science-based information.
“When misinformation spreads quickly online, it’s important that credible voices step forward swiftly with the facts,” he says.
