Food Marketing

Let's Celebrate MOM's!

We’ve all been there. It’s the end of a long day. We’re wheeling our young child through a grocery aisle gauntlet of cartoon characters beckoning from boxes of food we don’t want to buy. She demands an offending product. Maybe we say no despite her nagging. Maybe we give in. Whatever we do, our day is that much harder because corporate marketers—using one of their most powerful weapons: the media icons beloved by young children—have injected themselves between us and our kids.

Tell Rahm Emanuel: No Coke Ads on Residential Recycling Bins

If we don’t act now, the steady erosion of ad-free personal space and the escalation of unavoidable marketing will get a lot worse.
 
This week, the City of Chicago announced that Coca-Cola will donate 50,000 blue bins for household recycling. Sounds generous, but it’s really a cleverly disguised purchase of advertising space. In exchange, the bin lids will feature images of Coca-Cola products.  
 

Retailer Just Says No to Exploiting Children

Monday, March 11, 2013  

by: 

Michele Simon, JD, MPH
"All products that feature trademarked cartoon characters have been discontinued."

As the frequent bearer of bad news about the food industry, I am thrilled to share a positive story. Last month, MOM's Organic Market, a small retail chain based in the Baltimore area, announced it would stop carrying products featuring children's cartoon characters:

Products ranging from Dora the Explorer frozen soybeans to Elmo juice boxes will be discontinued and replaced with organic alternatives in cartoon-free packaging.

Feds to Parents: Big Food Still Exploiting Your Children, Good Luck with That

Tuesday, January 8, 2013  

by: 

Michele Simon

If you wanted to ensure a report gets buried, a good time to release it would be the Friday before a holiday week. That the Federal Trade Commission released its latest report on marketing to children then speaks volumes about how seriously the Obama administration is taking this intractable problem.

Congress to Kids: Drop Dead

Congress is requiring the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a cost/benefit analysis before finalizing a report that would provide the food industry with science-based, voluntary nutrition guidelines for marketing to children. The article includes an examination of how congress recurrently puts corporate interests ahead of children’s health.

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