Some of the nation’s biggest food and beverage companies, including the Coca-Cola Co., General Mills Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc., have agreed to stop advertising certain brands of cereals, candy bars, drinks and other foods on TV shows aimed at children under 12, a development reported by New York Times, Reuters (Brooks Barnes), the Associated Press (Vinnee Tong), Los Angeles Times (Alana Semuels), etc.
At first blush, you may be inclined to heartily applaud this voluntary move by the above corporations, who are joined by The Hershey Co.; PepsiCo Inc. (maker of Frito-Lay and Quaker Foods and seller of Pepsi and Gatorade drinks); Cadbury Adams USA LLC; Campbell Soup Co.; Kraft Foods Inc.; Mars Inc., McDonald’s USA;. Unilever (maker of SlimFast and Country Crock), and Masterfoods USA (makers of Snickers, M&Ms and Skittles).
But.. and here’s the rub… you need to know that these companies just happened to announce their new pledges at a Federal Trade Commission forum Wednesday.
That’s right: The companies were scrambling "to placate legislators" (as Alana Semuels so aptly puts it in the Los Angeles Times), because lawmakers are considering more aggressive food marketing crackdowns to stem childhood obesity.
So let’s face it: These moves are a direct response to avoid governmental regulation.
Naturally, I welcome these changes to stop pushing foods to kids that don’t meet certain nutritional guidelines. But it’s simply difficult to believe that these voluntary pledges came about because the corporations genuinely care about the health of our nation’s children.
In fact, critics — including the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and yours truly — claim that such self-regulated pledges simply don’t go far enough.
What’s more, they argue, "advertising guidelines without an industrywide standard or method of enforcement won’t do much good," as Semuels points out in the Los Angeles Times.
Margot Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, had another valid point.
"This gets rid of marketing of the very worst junk food," she told the L.A. Times, "but it doesn’t mean that only truly healthy foods are going to be marketed to kids."
Incidentally, these announcements come in the wake of previous commitments from the Kellogg Co. last month. As you may recall, in mid-June, I first told you about the "historic agreeement" (which I initially wrote about enthusiastically here and then again here, but not as excitedly), by which the Kellogg Co., was able to avoid litigation by the Center for Science in the Public Interest by agreeing to stop advertising sugary cereals and other products containing more than 12 grams (3 tsp.) of sugar per serving to children under 12. (I also talk about this threatened lawsuit in my book SUGAR SHOCK!. By the way, my publisher Berkley Books, part of the Penguin Group, will update this soon but not in time for the next reprinting, which is happening shortly.)
Anyhow, once you start looking at the actual specifics of these just-announced efforts at self-regulation — which you can find here — you begin to get a bit cynical, if not skeptical.
In fact, Brooks Barnes of The New York Times puts it well, noting that these corporate efforts "will probably amount to a ripple rather than a sea change in terms of what foods children see pitched on their favorite television shows and Web sites."
Let’s look at three corporate changes.
- General Mills will only advertise cereals that have 12 grams or less of sugar. (That’s 3 teaspoons.) This means Trix (with 13 grams or 3.25 tsp. of sugar and 28 grams of total processed carbs, which is processed much like sugar) is off limits on shows for the under-12 set, but the company will still continue to pitch Cocoa Puffs which has 12 grams of sugar (only 1 gram less than Trix) for 3/4 of a cup. (Excuse me, but what kid only eats 3/4 of a cup of sugary cereal at once? Isn’t 1 1/2 cups more the average servingsize?) That’s not all. As the New York Times points out, Trix’s message will still reach kids watching family shows, including, for instance some 2.1 million kids, who are fans of "American Idol."
- Then, we have McDonald’s promise to only advertise two types of Happy Meals to the under 12-set — one with four Chicken McNuggets, apple dippers with low-fat caramel dip and low fat milk, or one with a burger, apple dippers and dip and milk. These fast food items have less than 600 calories (still an awful lot), no more than 35% of calories from fat, 10% from saturated fat and no more than 35% sugar content. (So the fast-food giant can still advertise foods to kids that contain up to about 1/3 sugar. )
- Meanwhile, Pepsi will continue to market Gatorade Thirst Quencher energy drinks, dubbed "Smart Spot" beverages, to young children. But one 8-ounce serving of this Gatorade — which is much smaller than the average amount a person drinks in a sitting — still has 14 grams of sugar or 3 1/2 teaspoons of sugar.
Don’t get me wrong. These new corporate pledges are quite welcome, and they’re certainly much needed to combat obesity and encourage our kids to consume less sugar and fat, but at this point, I just don’t believe that self regulation will do much.
Unfortunately, real reform, I believe, just won’t happen until industry-wide standards and mandatory enforcement policies are put in place.
Not sure? Think energy deregulation. Think Enron.
What it comes down to, as Susan Linn, co-founder of the CCFC told the Los Angles Times, "Corporations are bound by law to increase shareholder profits, not to promote the well-being of children."
Karen James and Jennifer Moore contributed to this item for the SUGAR SHOCK! Blog