Marketing has a profound affect on the foods we eat and the beverages we drink, yet most of that marketing is for products we should avoid. BMSG monitors the media to help keep advocates informed of the tactics food and beverage companies use to target children, communities of color, and other groups that are particularly susceptible to the health harms these products cause. Below are archives of our monitoring.
Source: The New York Times on December 05, 2011
In spite of evidence to the contrary, the president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association argues that industry self-regulation is both rigorous and effective in reducing children's exposure to advertising for unhealthy products and lifestyles. She suggests that "critics ... focus on more holistic approaches to solving America's obesity challenges."Source: The Paramus Post on December 03, 2011
On Sunday December 4, food justice activists from as far as Colorado, Iowa and Upstate New York joined together for the Occupy Wall Street Farmer's March to protest the corporate ownership of the U.S. food system.Source: Advertising Age on December 01, 2011
The promotion offers 5 Big Macs and 5 large orders of fries (over 5,000 calories total) for half price.Source: QSR Magazine on December 01, 2011
KFC and Twitter are collaborating for the sixth annual KFC Colonel's Scholars scholarship program. High school seniors compete for a $20,000 college scholarship by Tweeting photos that show how they "exemplify Colonel Sanders' commitment to education and enriching their communities."Source: SFGate on December 01, 2011
Despite evidence that environmental factors such as advertising and access to healthy, affordable foods affect health, the editorial board of the SF Chronicle says that "parents -- not politicians -- should be the ones telling their children what they can and can't order off the menu." To that end, they celebrate McDonald's recent move to skirt a city hall ordinance requiring restaurants that offer free kids' toys to meet certain minimum standards for nutrition.Source: Grist on December 01, 2011
Appetite for Profit author Michele Simon argues that the food industry's voluntary pledges are "dismal failure[s]." She sees McDonald's plan to offer Happy Meal toys for 10 cents as a ploy to keep children and their families coming back to McDonald's. She urges readers to get involved in the effort to keep McDonald's from marketing to children.Source: Advertising Age on November 30, 2011
A city ordinance in San Francisco requires all restaurants offering free toys to make sure the food that comes with them meets certain nutrition standards. In response, McDonald's is charging 10 cents per Happy Meal toy instead of making its Happy Meals healthier.Source: Triple Pundit on November 29, 2011
News and commentary continue to circulate regarding companies' intentional targeted marketing of bottled water to communities of color. This post summarizes a couple of studies -- one from the Department of Pediatrics at the medical College of Wisconsin and another from the Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine -- both which find that African American and Latino families are much more likely to consume only bottled water as compared to white families. The writer highlights how companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola use celebrities and other techniques to target groups of color, especially mothers.Source: PR Newswire on November 28, 2011
Oldways, a nonprofit food and nutrition education organization, released the "African Heritage Diet Pyramid." As described in its press release, the pyramid is supposed to "celebrate the individual foods and the traditional healthy eating patterns of African Heritage, with roots in America, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America." For a visual of the pyramid, visit the organization's website.Source: Colorlines on November 28, 2011
Colorlines reports on the Rudd Center's sugary facts report highlighting industry's aggressive target marketing of Latino and African American youth. One of the most staggering findings was that African-American children and teens saw 80 to 90 percent more ads than white youth.
