Kellogg’s bullied by lawsuit threats
Posted
June 14, 2007 at
1:35 pm by
Prescott
Responding to the Kellogg Company and Viacom being threatened with a lawsuit by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, Kellogg’s cereals will not be advertised during children’s programming unless it meets certain nutritional guidelines:
The voluntary changes, which will be put in place over the next 1 1/2 years, will apply to about half of the products Kellogg markets to children worldwide, including Froot Loops and Apple Jacks cereals and Pop-Tarts.
Frosted Flakes, for example, and Rice Krispies with Real Strawberries will still make the nutritional cut, though regular Rice Krispies will not (too much salt).
Kellogg’s will also be discontinuing any product tie-ins with licensed characters or branded toys. I guess that box of Shrek Apple Jacks in my pantry just became a collectible!
While I’m sure some parents might think that it’s grrreat!, I’m with writer Kerrie Flanagan:
Here I was, the whole time thinking it was the consumption of junk food and lack of exercise that causes childhood obesity. The good thing is now I can rest easy knowing it is not my fault if my kids get fat. It’s Viacom’s fault for putting images of my favorite Bikini Bottom resident on a box of food. What a relief! I no longer have to accept any responsibility for my choices.
Even though I’ll admit I find slapping characters on everything from Dixie cups to ketchup bottles incredibly obnoxious, I don’t see how marketers shoulder the culpability when kids consume food items that their parents buy for them.
What do you think? Should advertising be to blame for making our children chunky?
Tags: advertising, childhood obesity, health, kelloggs
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11 Responses to “Kellogg’s bullied by lawsuit threats”
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1. Allison said:
June 14, 2007 @ 6:07 pm | Quote
No way. It’s not the advertisers’ fault. It lies on the parents with the money who buy this crap for their kids. If something’s unhealthy, don’t buy it. (lightbulb!)
There are LOADS of healthier cereals and foods to choose from. Sorry you can’t stand to see your little poopsie-kins throw himself on Safeway’s floor. Don’t blame the box of Spongebob Cereal because you can’t say no!
2. Kim said:
June 14, 2007 @ 7:23 pm | Quote
Last I checked I was an adult that was in charge of my kids. I know how to tell them “No” regardless of what is on, in or the coolest item selling at that time. I don’t need a lawsuit to tell me how to parent, if I buy it and my kids gain weight, that is MY problem. What’s next, come check my pantry and charge me extra for the girl scout cookies I have stashed?
3. Cara said:
June 15, 2007 @ 8:57 am | Quote
I just saw Supersize Me last night and they talked about the whole issue of marketing to children. I totally agree that as parents it’s up to us to buy nutritious things for our children. But I think the point that some people are trying to make is that by being heavily marketed to as children, when they ARE old enough to purchase their own food they will choose those products that are so ingrained into their little minds from years of advertising.
I know that as soon as I started babysitting around age 13 and having some money of my own, I would frequently blow it on candy and fast food because it’s something my parents would never buy for me. And who didn’t gain at that “Freshman 15″ when they went to college because they were in charge of what they were eating for the first time?
4. Petulant Pixie said:
June 16, 2007 @ 6:49 am | Quote
I do think it’s up to parents to make good choices for their kids, but….obviously, there’s a reason why companies sink billions of dollars into advertising–it works. To what degree? I don’t know. I do think that kids are more swayed than adults (duh), so marketing junk for them is ethically questionable, but I seriously doubt if this alone will have any measurable impact at all on the childhood obesity problem.
On a selfish note, I will be sad to see the Bugs and Dirt and Pirates cereals go, because they were just plain good. Like better than candy good. And, I realize I don’t even know the warthog and meerkat’s names on the Bugs and Dirt cereal (from The Lion King) but I bet my kids do (and they’ve never seen The Lion King).
5. Cristina said:
June 16, 2007 @ 10:13 am | Quote
While parents certainly have the ability to say “no” to their kids when they want something they shouldn’t have, I still think that advertisers marketing sugary cereals to kids is borderline unethical - particularly because of the volumn of ads out there.
The cereals are addicting, particularly when eaten regularly. And we have a childhood obesity crisis in this country that’s costing all of us a lot of money - not to mention the devastating affect it is having on children’s health.
Again, parents have the ultimate responsibility here. But I also think the EVERYONE (parents, government, private sector) need to share the responsibility to keep the public healthy.
6. hl said:
June 19, 2007 @ 11:10 am | Quote
This sounds so much like the whole Internet/TV content debate–
“We need freedom of speech and the parents should just control what their kids watch.” True, and a big part of parenthood means being the “meanie” who sets limits and says no far more than any of us would like to do.
However…as pointed out by Cara and as reiterated (ad nauseum?) by those defending limits on what can be viewed, parents are not raising their kids in a vacuum. Unless we expect to tie our kids hand and foot in a darkened room, spoon-feeding them their every last nutrient and selecting every single thing that passes before their little eyes, they WILL be exposed to the culture around them.
If we don’t respect and love the children throughout our society, we will just allow all kinds of images/advertisements/allurements to surround them wherever they go and then wonder why they are affected by it all.
Yes, parents need to be far more involved with their kids’ lives and decision processes than they are, but we all “need to share the responsibility to keep the public healthy.”
7. Allison said:
June 19, 2007 @ 12:48 pm | Quote
But why does it always have to come down to the “blame game”. It’s always someone else’s fault!
“Shame on Kellogg’s because my kid can’t resist sugarry cereals.”
What’s next? “Shame on Ford because the car is capable of going 100+ MPH and I just couldn’t tell myself to go the safe speed limit.”
OF COURSE the cereal companies are going to market to kids. Because it’s YOU who has to listen to “Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.” until you hit your breaking point, not them.
I’ll admit. I caved to my kids whining and bought the variety box of sugar cereal from Costco. Luckily for me, they caught on to the fact that the stuff tastes like SHIT, and it ended up going stale in our cabinet. Now we just stick to Cheerios and corn flakes.
I don’t just tell my kids to wear a seatbelt or helmet, I tell them what could happen if they didn’t. Why not explain to your kids about how too much sugarry food can lead to obesity and diabetes. Ask a local nursing home to give you a tour of the diabetic wing. I’m sure just the sight of someone pricking their finger, then injecting themselves with insulin via A NEEDLE (gasp!) will turn kids off quickly.
8. Deb said:
June 19, 2007 @ 1:08 pm | Quote
I’m with Allison —
My 4-year-old daughter understands that even though some foods taste really good they are not healthy and are ‘junk food’. How does she know this? Because I told her! She also knows the importance of eating healthy foods to grow up ‘big and strong’. Does she ask for junk food - of course! Does she always get it - NO! It’s called parenting.
I hate all the advertising of sugary foods to kids but if we are going to hold marketers and companies like Kellogg’s responsible - why stop there? Poor diet isn’t the only culprit in childhood obesity. How about the fact that they’re sitting in front of the TV in the first place? Maybe we should sue Sony for making TVs? Or PBS and Nickelodean for airing programs for kids? And how about videogames? All that sitting around ‘virtually’ playing allows those sugary foods to turn right into fat. Let’s go after Nintendo too!
Come on people! It’s the parents’ job to set limits - including limits on how much of that advertising they allow their kids to be exposed to (it’s called turning off the TV). And regarding the argument of “when they’re older…”: when you say ‘No’ explain WHY you’re saying no. Like I said, my 4-year-old gets this!
9. Mike said:
June 20, 2007 @ 12:12 am | Quote
We will take responsibility for our kids. But these advertisers are fighting us and they’re powerful! They can have a huge effect on our kids minds. We are trying to raise our kids properly and these
marketing people are working in direct opposition to that.
Personal responsibility, my butt. This is corperate power against individual families. There oughta be a law.
10. Karen said:
June 22, 2007 @ 2:30 pm | Quote
Of course its not the parents fault! Can we just accept that for once we are being let off the hook?
Im kidding, in case you did not get that.
The whole sugar cereal is something I look at from the outside-in on (does that make sense?) As a kid the most suger I ever got in a cereal was when Kix came out with berry berry kix…and I think I was already a teenager. I remeber the time I tricked my mom into buying chocolate cereal…thinking I was the smart one…what did she know…one of the many moments I realized that my mother is always right.
The bottom line is they market it, we cave, we let our 2 year olds have a tv in thier room, eat too much fast food and have forgotten that it is really not essential to be on the go 24/7. Of course the food marketers have some responsability. Just like parents, network exects., toy makers and wal mart. (why not blame them - they deserve it the most) The obesity problem in kids is bigger than a box of fruit loops…but any move in a healthy direction is a good one.
11. Beta Mum said:
June 27, 2007 @ 11:14 am | Quote
Advertising may increase the pestering, but it’s still perfectly possible to say “no”. I also try not to let them watch TV with adverts - not so much chance of that in the USofA I guess.