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: MediaPost on December 04, 2013
The fast food giant is selling men's boxer shorts with the slogan, "Eat Like You Mean It." It is using Facebook and Instagram to push sales of the controversial shorts.Source: Food Politics on December 04, 2013
Marion Nestle exposes how personal responsibility only goes so far when food choices are limited to foods that are highly processed, high in salt and sugar, and served in large portions. She proposes a solution by requiring restaurants to serve smaller portions and reduce the sodium in their foods.Source: PR Newswire on December 03, 2013
Legendary performer Prince will headline the 2014 Essence Festival, an annual multi-day music festival sponsored by Coca-Cola that targets African American women. The event is also an important opportunity for Coca-Cola to build relationships with African American youth, many of whom will be participating in #YesWeCode, a community initiative tied to the festival that encourages young people to strengthen their ability to use technology.Source: Advertising Age on December 03, 2013
In an effort to boost sales among consumers who are increasingly critical of sugary drinks, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are investing in science to create better-tasting sugar substitutes. The sugar substitute "S617" has yet to be approved for consumption, but the Center for Science in the Public Interest stated that the product could make it easier for the industry to reduce the sugar in its products, an action the Center is pushing with a petition for a mandatory limit on added sugar in beverages.Source: AlterNet on December 02, 2013
First lady Michelle Obama recently partnered with Sesame Street to promote healthy eating among young children. In this article, writer Erin Sagen dismisses the partnership as insufficient and proposes a number of grassroots initiatives that she argues will more effectively combat childhood obesity. Though these initiatives "build reliance by placing the power to create food within the community itself," none address the overwhelming amount of marketing for unhealthy food that surrounds young children.Source: AlterNet on December 02, 2013
Writer Amit Srivastava illuminates how Pepsi's latest corporate social responsibility maneuver to invest $5.5 billion in India by 2020 will be a detriment to the country's public health. The investment would scale-up the country's consumption of junk food and prevalence of obesity and diabetes, which would result in more social and financial problems than the developing country is currently experiencing.Source: MediaPost on December 02, 2013
The juice company is using social media to support the nonprofit 'Family-to-Family,' with the bonus of using the branded social media to drive its sales. The brand is also encouraging fans to repost the videos on Twitter with the corporate social responsibility-focused hashtag #ShareWhatsGood.Source: Progressive Grocer on November 26, 2013
"Ace of Cakes" star Duff Goldman will launch AirHeads holiday competition, a social media-driven campaign that urges customers to use the candies to decorate holiday creations. The winner will receive a year's supply of the sugary candies.Source: QSR Magazine on November 26, 2013
Citing the "stressful" nature of the holiday season, KFC has unveiled the Festive Feast, a family meal deal. The company touts the promotion as an attempt to "offer families a moment of escape from the frenzy of the holiday season and allow them to simply spend time with one another."Source: Food & Wine World on November 26, 2013
Extend Nutrition, a healthy snack food company started by the former president of the American Diabetes Association, is taking on the processed food industry with a word-of-mouth campaign and other outreach activities. The challenges of launching a new, healthier line of snack foods underscore the extent of the food industry's well-funded and omnipresent advertising for unhealthy products.
