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: QSR Magazine on March 28, 2013
The L'il Buckets, which KFC claims are filled with "good deeds," are priming kids to become lifelong consumers of fried chicken -- by the bucket.Source: USA Today on March 28, 2013
A report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest demonstrates that voluntary industry attempts to offer healthier fare are ineffective. The majority of kids' meals at the nation's top chains are too high in calories, fat and sodium, and restaurants have made little improvement to their kids' menu items since CSPI's last study in 2008.Source: FoodBev.com on March 28, 2013
After reaching its goal of partnering with organizations to provide safe water access to 3 million people in developing countries -- PepsiCo has doubled that goal. Pepsi states that the milestone comes as part of the company's strategy "to deliver sustained financial performance by providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats."Source: Marketing Week on March 28, 2013
Health advocates derided the campaign for encouraging families to make Domino's pizza -- which offers little nutrition -- an everyday meal. The pizza-maker was promoting weeknights between 4 and 6 p.m. as the "family rush hour" and discounting orders during that time.Source: Food Politics on March 27, 2013
A new study shows that green labels are all it takes to make most consumers interpret products as "healthy."Source: Packaging Digest on March 27, 2013
This article illustrates the power of corporate marketing, describing how a brand rallied experts to figure out how to forge an "emotional connection" with youth. "[The marketing team] immersed itself in the demographics' visual world, analyzing trends in gaming, sport, grooming, fashion and music."Source: The New York Times on March 27, 2013
This letter-to-the-editor articulates why brand marketers aren't the only ones culpable for unhealthy food and its effects. New York Times reader Joshua Ostroff calls out Congress for subsidizing unhealthy food, as well as celebrities like Beyonce and LeBron James who "trade on their fame at the expense of their young fans' health."Source: Progressive Grocer on March 26, 2013
The Access to Nutrition Index report, which rates the nutrition commitments and performance of the world's biggest food and beverage companies as measured against international guidelines and norms, said industry must do more to make healthy products affordable, available and appealing to consumers.Source: Advertising Age on March 26, 2013
The release comes after Taco Bell successfully launched Doritos Locos tacos in its eateries last year. The new line will display the Taco Bell logo, and Doritos is launching it with an interactive Twitter contest that features a whole pallet of chips as a prize.Source: CBS on March 25, 2013
Michael Moss, investigative reporter for The New York Times, talks to Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell about his new book, "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us," which suggests food companies manipulate their products to make us buy and eat more.
