Children

Why Did KFC Cross the Road? (Because PR Was On The Other Side)

When KFC crowed on October 30, 2006, that it was planning to ban transfats in its U.S. fried chicken, the company had a PR machine behind it ready to score a news hit in one of the nation's fast food capitals, New York City.

Restaurant Industry Can't Stop Trans Fat Grease Fire

New York City, with the support of Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, aggressively is moving forward to ban trans fats from restaurants--the stuff that says “hydrogenated” before the word oil in fast foods, snacks and many other processed and restaurant foods. Other cities are contemplating similar action.

Disney's Healthy Food Marketing Plan a Fantasia?

On the very day that Walt Disney Company announced that it would limit future food marketing deals to brands that provide healthy food products to kids, there was Kellogg's sugar-crazy Tony the Tiger (again) welcoming kids to Disney's website. Is the company, then, not "Greeeaat!" for its plan to limit calories, fat, saturated fat and added sugars to any product the Disney name promotes?

New Zealand Police End McDonald's School Marketing Program

New Zealand Police have terminated McDonald's sponsorship of a road safety program in schools and pre-schools because it was inconsistent with their policy banning corporate sponsorship.

Front Group's Fake Blog Just One of Wal-Mart's Recent Woes

Richard Edelman, the CEO of the Edelman PR firm, "issued an apology for his agency's role in creating a blog for client Wal-Mart that did not properly disclose its origins or funding," notes PR Week.

FCC Names Obesity/Food Marketing Task Force

Citing "a public health problem that will only get worse unless we take action," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin announced a joint task force on child obesity.

Bottled Water Babies

Bottled water is a $10 billion industry, but companies are "determined to push ... into new demographics," by "distilling products aimed at children," reports Bo Emerson. "The multimillion-dollar marketing campaign includes animated ads on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and broadcast TV that features kids triumphing over boring parents with the help of the bulbous (Nestle-brand) bottle. ...

McDonald's Chews Fat with "Independent" Obesity Researchers

When previously spotted pitching in to help the cause of "independent" research involving its products, McDonald's Corp. asked a Connecticut nun to quickly issue an unfinished report about farm workers in order to help the fast food giant fight off a fair wage campaign by migrant tomato pickers.

Local Activism Can Help Fight Big Food PR

While federal law provides only minimum guidelines for healthy school meals (and snack foods and branded beverages proliferate in school vending machines), state-based activism has the potential to push standards higher. That's the cautionary message delivered by food marketing critic Michele Simon at last week's 29th Annual National Food Policy Conference.

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