Children

As School Doors Open, Food and Beverage Industries Rush In

by Jonathan Rosenblum — September 15, 2006 - 1:57pm
  • Topics: Obesity, Children, Marketing

    • Ah, the sounds of School Year 2006-2007: the clatter of coins going down the pop machines to let loose a POWERade or an aspartame-sweetened diet soda -- maybe even a bottle of juice or milk. The rip of a new box of "reduced-sugar" Fruit Loops (or Frosted Flakes or Apple Jacks) at breakfast.

    Profs Smell Smoke in Food Marketing to Kids

    by Jonathan Rosenblum — September 8, 2006 - 8:02am

    Governments should learn a lesson from tobacco marketeers and restrict junk food advertising aimed at children, says a prominent obesity specialist. Boyd Swinburn, professor of population health at Deakin University in Australia, was one of several members of a global task force on obesity who called for international standards on advertising food products to children.

    Main Source: 
    Sydney Morning Herald, September 6, 2006

    Coca-Cola's Demon Drinks

    by Bob Burton — September 6, 2006 - 4:20am

    Coca-Cola's new advertising campaign - titled "Drink, Choose, Live" - is aimed at reassuring parents that it has products other than soft drinks. The company states, "If you're not in the mood for water, it's OK to also reach for something else you enjoy, like juice or a soft drink.

    Main Source: 
    Sydney Morning Herald, September 4, 2006

    A Fortunate Matter

    by Bob Burton — August 29, 2006 - 3:07pm
  • Topics: Activism, Crisis Management, Obesity, Issue Management, Children, International

    • McHummer

    by Bob Burton — August 10, 2006 - 11:55pm

    During August, U.S. McDonald's is teaming up with GM to include a model of the gas-guzzling Hummer in its "Happy Meals." The New York Times notes that McDonald's "appears not to have gotten the message" about rising petrol prices.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, August 10, 2006

    It's a Game, It's Junk Food, It's Advergaming!

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — July 28, 2006 - 2:23pm

    Ritz Bits Soccer Shoot Out Game

    The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a study titled "It's Child's Play: Advergaming and the Online Marketing of Food to Children," which found that more than eight out of ten (85%

    Main Source: 
    Science News, July 19, 2006

    War Is For Children: Reading, Writing and Recruitment

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — July 19, 2006 - 9:07am
  • Topics: Iraq, Children, Politics, U.S. Government, War / Peace

    • As a child I absolutely adored Cricket magazine, published by Carus Publishing. I now have a twelve-year old daughter who likewise enjoys their magazines for kids, but the May 2006 issue of Cobblestone Magazine floored me with its blatant pro-military marketing pitch to children.

    Chances are, depending on your age, that either you or your children have read one of Carus’ publications at home, school, the library, or a doctor’s waiting room. For the smallest tykes—those under seven years old—they offer Ladybug, Babybug, and Click magazines. For six- to nine-year olds they put out Spider, Ask, and Appleseeds. And for the “tweens,” Calliope, Cobblestone, Cricket, Dig, Faces, Muse, Odyssey, and Cicada.

    Cosmetic Solutions: The Makeup Industry Gives Itself a Health Hazard Makeover

    by Diane Farsetta — July 14, 2006 - 5:32pm
  • Topics: Activism, Children, Environment, Health, Public Relations

    • Breast cancer. Genital abnormalities. Distortion and damage of genetic material.

    Common ingredients in cosmetic products have been linked to these hazards. As further research is conducted into the long-term and cumulative effects on cosmetics users, their children and the water supply that products are washed off into, more questions arise. Not that you'd know it by listening to the cosmetics industry.

    An important underlying issue is that the industry is largely self-regulated. While interstate trade in "adulterated or misbranded cosmetics" is prohibited, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not review new cosmetics before they are marketed and cannot order recalls of hazardous cosmetics. "Cosmetic firms are responsible for substantiating the safety of their products and ingredients," reads the FDA's own explanation.

    The industry's trade group, the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA), likes this hands-off approach. CTFA has 600 member companies, including Aveda, Clairol, L'Oréal and Unilever, and standing committees on government relations, public affairs and international issues. Its website says CTFA promotes "industry self-regulation and reasonable governmental requirements." But reasonable to who?

    The ABCs of Adult Marketing to Children

    by Jonathan Rosenblum — July 11, 2006 - 12:13pm

    "Adult shopping decisions might be affected by a sociological change called 'age compression'--the idea that kids may be getting older younger and demanding adult products," reports Andrea Canning. By ABC's count, kids are demanding cell phones, iPods, and may even want Japan's nonalcoholic "Kids'Beer." The story twice quotes Paul Kurnit, president of KidsShop Youth Marketing Company: "There is focus on a more savvy, more informed, more inclusive kid today," he notes.

    Main Source: 
    ABCnews.com/Good Morning America, July 8, 2006
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