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: 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.Source: MediaPost on March 25, 2013
The Academy of Country Music is hosting its 2nd annual free 3-day event for country music fans. Dr Pepper will sponsor the red carpet event with free samples, while the Kraft Country Kitchen will offer 13 food vendors and a picnic area with the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.Source: Kellogg's on March 25, 2013
Kellogg's is targeting moms for this social media-based campaign to promote waffles as a food to be eaten at any time of day. The company is inviting consumers to submit recipes using waffles for "breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack or dessert."Source: Progressive Grocer on March 21, 2013
In a statement, the Food Marketing Institute and the National Grocers' Association offered their support for regulation that would ensure that the proposed Menu Labeling Law applies only to restaurants, and not to food retailers (such as grocery stores).Source: Food Politics on March 21, 2013
In this response to Michael Mudd's high-profile NYT opinion piece, How to Force Ethics on the Food Industry, Marion Nestle reflects on Mudd's own history with Kraft Foods and supports his call for government regulation of the food industry. She concludes that the industry's self-regulatory promises are at best dubious because "food companies are not social service agencies. Their job is to sell products."Source: Fox News Latino on March 21, 2013
Walmart, the biggest employer of Latinos in the U.S., spent an estimated $66 million on marketing to Latinos in 2010 and plans to double that figure in 2013. Part of its strategy involves designating certain stores as "Hispanic."Source: FoodNavigator-usa.com on March 19, 2013
As part of its ongoing effort to promote low and no-calorie options in response to mounting pressure around obesity, the Coca-Cola Company has announced the release of no-calorie Fruitwater.Source: Hispanic Retail 360 on March 18, 2013
The company is sponsoring the Toyota Grand Prix in Long Beach, including musical performances and a "Miss Tecate Light" competition. Its sponsorship of the event marks a shift in Tecate's marketing strategy to appeal to younger, bilcultural Latinos, rather than first-generation Mexican-Americans. According to the article, first-generation Mexican immigrants now only account for 10 percent of the U.S. Latino population.Source: The New York Times on March 16, 2013
Former food industry executive Michael Mudd argues that the government should not be deterred by the recent defeat of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on large size sodas in New York City. He argues that, while many have a role to play in bringing about the social and environmental changes that have lead to the current obesity epidemic, "none are culpable the way the big food processors and soft drink companies are."Source: Advertising Age on March 15, 2013
Seeking to reach Latino beer drinkers, MillerCoors has launched a search for a new agency to handle marketing directed toward Latinos. Among other strategies, MillerCoors plans to continue to focus on soccer and to rework its packaging and celebrity endorsements.
