Today’s Maddening News Stories
Junk-Food Advertising Aimed at Children
Food Navigator USA reported on the status of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), which supposedly aims to reduce the amount of unhealthy foods directly marketed to children. CFBAI is made up of 17 food-industry giants, including Burger King, McDonalds, Mars, Kraft, General Mills, PepsiCo and Coca Cola. (Can you spot the first problem?)
Further, the criteria that the voluntary initiative uses to determine what advertising should be directed to children under 12 is that the foods meet the government’s standards for what is “healthy” or the American Heart Association’s HeartCheck Program. (And here we have problem number two.)
So, let’s see how they’re doing?
To quote the Navigator article, “[The CFBAI's] latest report found that… nearly half (48 percent) of cereals from companies taking part in the program contain more than ten grams of sugar per serving. Remember, these are just the ones that the program allows to be advertised directly to young children.”
Take a look at the full list of products approved for direct-to-kid advertising under the program, including: multiple cookies and desserts, such as Sponge Bob Banana Splits Shots popsicles; sugary, extruded cereals such as Fruity Pebbles, Marshmallow Pebbles, Frosted Flakes and Cinnamon Toast Crunch; McDonalds and Burger King hamburgers; Kool Aid; Yoplait Trix Yogurt; and Kid Cuisine meals.
And the government wonders why I don’t want them deciding for me what is “healthy.” Hm.
(Note: Cadbury Adams, Hershey, Coca Cola and Mars have supposedly volunteered to halt all advertising primarily directed to children under the age of 12. If I sound skeptical it’s because I am, but we should give credit where credit is due.)
More About Big-Ag Control
Yahoo! News reported that Alton Terry, a former contract farmer under Tyson’s, lost his plea to have his case heard by the Supreme Court. Terry argued that his contract was terminated by Tyson’s because he organized area farmers and complained – directly to Tyson’s – about the company’s practices.
To quote the article, “Terry says Tyson and other big companies have too much sway over farmers, and federal courts also have bowed to agribusiness interests by setting too high a standard for the farmers to succeed in court.”
Now, if this is the first you’re hearing of stories like this, this might sound incredulous to you. But if you look into Tyson’s and their reputations for animal care, relationships with farmers and their use and treatment of illegal immigrants – and the back-room government deals that allow all of this – you will be appalled. (If you haven’t, you must see Food, Inc.
Oh, and by the way, what brought the confrontation between Terry and Tyson’s to a head? Terry was denied three times being able to watch his birds get weighed by Tyson’s (which, of course, determines how much he gets paid). Sounds sketchy to me.
In the beginnings of the case (Terry v. Tyson Farms, 10-542), the Bush Administration sided with Terry. The USDA under President Obama has proposed rules that would limit the control chicken companies have over their contract farmers and ease the way for farmers filing suit under the 90-year-old Packers and Stockyards Act. These proposed changes would make it clear that farmers don’t need to prove industry-wide anti-competitive behavior to sue under the act – a central issue in Terry’s dismissal. (Tyson’s is opposed to the changes.)
Keep a skeptical eye on these regulations. For far too long we have allowed industry giants to control our food supply, AND our government.
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what is “Big Ag” mean? Oh, now I’m guessing agricultural, correct? I’m not fully with the “in” lingo yet, but getting there.
I agree with the 1st article on how sketchy it is for the bad guys having a “advertising initiative” to watch themselves. But this goes to the democratic/republican thought process too. I would think you would say (republican speaking) that if companies want to advertise to kids, let them, it’s their money. It’s up to the parents to parent their kids and give them the right foods to eat. It’s the democratic view that would say “the govt needs to put their fingers into what companies can advertise”. Which I think you agree. Unless if what they are advertising is actually dangerous for the public, and with the diabetic, health, weight problems that this country has, it actually is.
Very thoughtful comments, Norm! Thanks for reading!
There are many cross-factors here. All things being equal, I believe that corporations can advertise as they wish and consumer pressure should ‘regulate’ corporate actions. This perspective is taking a beating, though, and here are a few reasons why: (1) People prefer convenience to social and economic activism, (2) the media is largely corrupt and reports on what it wants, so information dissemination is difficult and often outright thwarted, (3) everything, including science, is for sale (see below), and (4) we do already regulate certain aspects of advertising – such as the required and oh-so-pleasant-to-hear lists of warnings on drug commercials – and how supplements and health foods must specify that their claims have not been evaluated by the FDA, so this creates competing priorities.
Now I will get very ‘Republican’ for a minute and say that another issue is once the government gets involved in one aspect of life, their regulation is invited and makes more sense (which is why I think that the government should not have their hands in these issues). High level examples: The WIC program, and the crap food that’s acceptable under it, and the healthy food that is excluded. And who is the government to tell people what food they can buy? But then again, if the government is paying for it, they really can. Conflicting ideas. Healthcare. If the government is becoming a payor for healthcare, it makes sense that they have a say in healthcare decisions, regulations, ratings of healthcare practices, and even cradle to grave health concepts: birthing, food choices, vaccines, etc. For someone with my belief system this is terrifying.
Back to more relevant ideas… I’m not even certain there is a point in limiting direct to kid advertising. If they advertise to teens, or young adults, they items will become right-of-passage things that young kids think are cool b/c the big kids seem to enjoy it. It’s all sort of semantics.
The biggest issues in this article, for me, are that people need to be aware that this “initiative” is just another advertising scheme. They want to appear to care about kids’ health, and get a special “approval” to boot. People shouldn’t be fooled, and should not let something being on the ‘approved’ list trick them into thinking it’s healthy.
The second, and probably largest, point I wanted to pass on with this article is that the government’s standards for “healthy” foods are ridiculous, even by mainstream standards, certainly by traditional, whole-food standards, and can’t be depended upon. Our tax-dollars are being spent to fund “approvals” are garbage foods that are killing our nation. People should be MAD. And things like the American Heart Association HeartCheck and many other approvals you see on packaging — it’s a pay for promotion scheme. That’s it. It’s all about money.
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