At least I have my kids happiness in mind.
(/needless sarcasm clarification)
Posted on 01/13/2005 5:51:43 PM PST by Ellesu
WASHINGTON - The vending machine industry, taking heavy criticism as kids and other Americans get fatter, is launching an anti-obesity marketing campaign to improve its image and fend off efforts to remove machines from schools.
A big part of the effort: Color-coded stickers on vending machines to separate healthful items from those that hungry snackers should, in the industry's words, "choose rarely."
The National Automatic Merchandising Association's effort, "Balanced for Life," includes computer software available to schools for $100 that was developed by a hospital to rate food by color codes.
The move comes a day after the government issued guidelines urging Americans to exercise 30 to 90 minutes a day, eat less and choose whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
"People are going to eat what they want to eat," said Richard M. Geerdes, the association's president and chief executive. He said that when some schools in Los Angeles removed vending machines, consumption of snack food "shifted to a different source."
"A solution like that doesn't work," Geerdes said.
The industry is promoting the "Snackwise Nutrition Rating System," developed by Columbus Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
The software evaluates the nutrition content of food based on calories, fat, sugar, protein, fiber, calcium, iron and vitamins A and C. A snack is assigned a point value, which is then translated into a color. Green is "best choice," yellow is "choose occasionally" and red is "choose rarely."
For example, a 1.25-ounce package of cinnamon-flavored Teddy Grahams is a "green" snack, while a package of Grandma's Chocolate Chip Big Cookies is a "red" snack.
Critics of the food industry say marketing to children is a major cause of obesity.
Thursday's event featured pro football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, who urged parents and their children to exercise, even if it was just doing sit-ups and push-ups during commercials while watching TV.
Two watchdog groups questioned Swann's paid role in the industry program because he also serves as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness.
Swann's "ability to speak out on the need for children to limit their junk food intake will be severely compromised by his role as spokesman for the vending machine trade association," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in a joint statement with the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Swann is being paid, but a spokeswoman for the association said she did not know how much. Jackie Clark said the questions raised about his role were "very silly."
Swann's position on the president's fitness council is unpaid, and requires less than 60 days a year of his time, according to the Health and Human Services Department. Spokesman Bill Pierce said Swann's involvement in the industry campaign was not a government conflict of interest. He praised industry efforts to respond to concerns about obesity.
"It's important that this message get out everywhere to all sectors of the country," Pierce said.
The association event also featured a Colorado Springs high school principal representing the National Association of Secondary School Principals, who said that vending machines provide crucial funding for extracurricular activities.
Jay Engeln said his school received about $30,000 annually from the machines that funded such programs as prom tickets for students who couldn't afford them. He said the machines get turned off at breakfast and lunch times, and the top beverage purchase was bottled water.
ON THE NET
http://www.snackwise.org
http://www.vending.org
http://www.cspinet.org
http://www.hhs.gov
They'd do better to just cut portion sizes. A "snack" should be no more than 150-200 calories, but the average calorie content of vending machine selections is usually at least twice that much.
When I was a drifter, I walked a lot, I carried a heavy pack, I procured and cooked my meals under varying circumstances. And subsequently, I was in the best shape of my life. When I returned to "normal" life, one of the hardest things was trying to hold on to that daily allowance of walking, and the way it just fit into your daily chores of cadging a living.
When you drive everywhere, when you have every convenience, when you're only exercise at work is walking to the elevator, and you reach middle age, it gets tougher and tougher. Nevermind the fact that the meal at the end of the day is partly a reward for suffering through the BS day. Not making excuses for people, but the cards are stacked against them. Or else I'm wrong.
you're=your
I don't know when I started making THAT kind of error. I hate to say it, but it's the weed and wine, methinks.
This is the joke of the day, right?
I can't imagine any kid dropping a dollar bill in any vending machine and then pondering a moment about which color corresponds with the least junky of the junk foods.
The vending machine poobahs take for granted that kids might be stupid about eating habits, but thinks the rest of the world is full of 7th graders too, obviously.
This is all feel good CYA stuff for when the school kids now are grown up and weigh 410 pounds. Then the vending machine companies can say, "but we color coded our stuff! It's not our fault Johnny didn't pick the right color." What a waste of energy and colored stickers.
OK the article got worse toward the end.
Back in my day, which was a while back, if you couldn't afford tickets to the prom, then you didn't go or either cut the neighbors' grass, babysat kids, or whatever. You didn't go out and make X% of your classmates obese so you could win a free ticket to the prom. No wonder we are raising a generation of parasites that thinks someone owes them something they can't buy.
I went to school in the 50's we werent even allowed a coke machine. Snacks? we snacked on whatever the other kids had in their lunch bags. Never felt guilty about it because someone else snacked on mine. We didnt have a cafeteria either.Bag lunched it.
Funny but my mom used to fix ham sandwiches with mayo on them and they sat in my desk all morning unrefrigerated and none of us ever died. Peanut butter was the staff of life. No one died from it. as for zip lock bags? Hahahaha, It was waxed paper.
Critics of American enterprise say all sorts of dumb things for which they have no evidence.
That is so gay! People are gonna eat what they crave. Common sense tells you there are some things that shouldn't be eaten all the time. If one lacks this common sense, what good is a color code to them?
They will probably think it has something to do with the terror alert.
Seriously, that's somebody's kid. How sad. But you're right, she sure looks happy. Looks like she could use a few more video games and Baby Ruth bars.
That won't be necessary. All you have to do is give them a dollar and a vending machine full of junk food. If you really think a kid would choose a boiled egg for breakfast over a honey bun, you've never been a kid or had kids.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.