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Is the federal government about to put Tony the Tiger out of a job?
In the face of a national epidemic of childhood obesity, a collection of federal agencies has been working for two years now to come up with a set of voluntary guidelines that would restrict what foods can be marketed to kids. Food companies and marketing groups rejected a set of proposed guidelines last year, and the government has repeatedly postponed releasing new ones.
But as the Associated Press reports, the feds may finally pull the trigger as soon as today. Apparently, the AP reporter got a sneak peek at the new guidelines and writes that "companies would be urged to only market foods to children ages 2 through 17 if they are low in fats, sugars and sodium and contain specified healthy ingredients."
The story goes on to say that the new guidelines are stricter than the standards companies have set for themselves in terms of targeting kids. (Not a surprise since a company like Kellogg's, for example, still doesn't see anything wrong with hawking Frosted Flakes to tots, as an article in the New York Times pointed out last year.)
The guidelines will reportedly cover not only traditional forms of advertising (e.g., commercials during Saturday morning cartoons), but the burgeoning market of online advertising as well.
There's probably more to say here, but darn it, in the middle of writing this we popped over to the Lucky Charms website (which gets, like, a quarter million hits a month), and we got so distracted trying to navigate Lucky the Leprechaun through the Chocolate Mines that we ran out of time.
Luckily, there's a tiny banner at the bottom to remind us: "Hey kids, this is advertising!"
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4-29-2011 @7:38AM deby devid said... The post is very informative. It is a pleasure reading it. I have also bookmarked you for checking out new posts.
London Seo
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4-29-2011 @3:50PM natalie said... I don't understand, kids aren't the ones going out and buying most of this stuff. It's not like your typical obese child is running to the store cash in hand, it's the parents who buy it and the parents who feed it to their children. All of this really comes down to good parenting.
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5-01-2011 @8:00AM Ernie Boswell Tungston III said... I read the headline GOVERNMENT WANTS COMPANIES TO LIMIT MARKETING TO KIDS and I thought "I don't think government should force companies to limit their marketing efforts to kids".
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5-11-2011 @3:22PM Lori said... Of all the ridiculous things..
Here are a few simple truths that people (and the government) need to get through their heads.
Fact one : Obese children in the US are obese because they have parents who do not limit their intake of useless non-nutritional foods and actually make them exercise.
Fact two : Obese children generally come from homes with obese parents.
Fact three: Obese children have parents who let them become "couch potatoes" and do not encourage physical activity and thus any junk they put into their bodies is immediately bad for them whereas a healthy child can (and many times does) eat several "junk" foods a week and stay at a healthy weight.
Fact four: Forcing people to limit their marketing campaigns to adults instead of children does no good if the parents are a) bringing the stuff into the home and b) eating it on a regular basis.
And finally..
The government wants to be more involved in how children eat?
Hold the parents accountable.
Seeing a beer commercial doesn't force me to buy alcohol any more than my child seeing a Big Mac is going to force me to buy one.
I am responsible for what my children eat. I am accountable for what my children eat. Me. Only me. Not a cereal company or a fast food restaurant... just me.
L.T.
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