Posted on 01/18/2006 2:08:04 PM PST by Pyro7480
Suit seeks to stop Kellogg from targeting kids
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A consumer group wants to keep Tony the Tiger from promoting sugary cereals on the SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon show, or anywhere else kids are watching.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest on Wednesday announced legal action to try to stop the Kellogg Co., maker of cereals like Frosted Flakes, and Nickelodeon cable network Viacom Inc., from marketing junk food to children.
A planned lawsuit will ask a Massachusetts court to stop the companies from marketing junk foods in venues where 15 percent or more of the audience is under age 8, and to stop marketing junk foods through Web sites, toy giveaways, contests and other techniques aimed at that age group.
The planned lawsuit in Massachusetts is the latest attempt to use the courts to try to battle the growing obesity crisis in the United States.
A widely watched lawsuit filed in 2002 accused fast-food leader McDonald's Corp. of using misleading advertising to lure children into eating unhealthy foods. McDonald's has called that lawsuit frivolous and parts of the case have been dismissed.
In the Massachusetts case, plaintiffs contend that the two companies are harming children since the overwhelming majority of food products they market to children are high in items such as sugar and fat or nearly devoid of nutrients.
"We have not been served with any legal papers," Nickelodeon said. "That said, Nickelodeon has been an acknowledged leader and positive force in educating and encouraging kids to live healthier lifestyles, as well as in the ongoing process of encouraging advertisers to provide more balance in their offerings, and we will continue to do so."
Nickelodeon has also licensed its characters for "good-for-you" products, such as a deal that has SpongeBob characters on packages of Grimmway carrots.
Kellogg could not be immediately reached for comment.
Of 168 ads for food that appeared on Nickelodeon during a review in the fall, 88 were for foods with poor nutritional quality, the center said. Nickelodeon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants were also used on packages of "junk foods" like Kellogg's Wild Bubble Berry Pop-Tarts, the center said.
Meanwhile, the center also reviewed 27.5 hours of Saturday morning programming and found 98 percent of the commercials promoted what it called "nutritionally poor foods."
"As a parent, I do my best to get my kids to eat healthy foods," Sherri Carlson, a plaintiff and mother of three, said in the center's news release. "But then they turn on Nickelodeon and see all those enticing junk-food ads."
Besides the Center for Science in the Public Interest, other plaintiffs in the case include the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Andrew Leong, a parent from Brookline, Massachusetts.
Massachusetts law requires that companies be given 30 days notice before a lawsuit is filed and the Center for Science in the Public Interest said it was giving that notice on Wednesday.
(With reporting by Kenneth Li in New York, Nichola Groom in Los Angeles, and Jessica Wohl in Chicago)
My solution is to let the parents decide what their kids eat, and to leave the food Nazis out of it..
I'll betcha anything that these people who take such extreme offense with "junk" cereal wouldn't so much as gasp at the content of Desperate Housewives.
Head start program loads up more than 2,000 calories in the breakfast, presuming that the child won't have lunch or dinner.
No talk of changing that to identify which kids don't get fed any other time of day and which kids get a lunch too and which get 2 other meals a day.
"Besides the Center for Science in the Public Interest, other plaintiffs in the case include the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Andrew Leong, a parent from Brookline, Massachusetts."
We know that the Chicago based "policy group" is the work of one person. My thought is that Leong is the founder and soul population of the Boston "policy group" as well as a relative or close personal friend of the Chicago group.
And, they both waste long hours on their PC posting to DU.
It takes a village idiot to raise a child.
Those parents who require their children to eat healty will. The others wont...but its none of these red, pinko, socialst, consumer-watch-dog butt wipes business or Hillary Clintons business how individual families deal with their nutrition.
This is that same Commie consumer-watch-dog crap that Ralphie boy Nader (Nadir = the bottom) pulls all the time.
You gotta hate these busy bodies.
You know, the presumption of this is as follows: Kelloggs advertises to kids. Kids ask their parents to buy advertised cereal. Parents are helpless to resist child's request, therefore, Kelloggs is directly responsible for every malady facing children today.
Oh, brother.
Idiot wimpy parent. Who soes the grocery shopping in your family lady? You or the kids? Learn to tell your children "NO". It will NOT kill them.
You hit it! Government programs create permanent underclasses which spark clinical depression in those who are most vulnerable and is manifested in obesity.
LOL! When was the last time you saw children in a super market doing their own shopping?
This is ridiculous. Their parents buy the stuff.
Amy Kellogg
LOL! I love Calvin and Hobbes.
Why do they think they have the right to bring this lawsuit? Don't you need to be personally hurt or something?
Or did they do away with that rule for do-googers in MA?
My 4-year-old always goes grocery shopping with me. When she points out something I don't want her to have, I say "no". Guess I should just give into her demands then sue the company that makes the product. (rolling eyes..)
Sheesh, lay off the conspiracy crack pipe for awhile will ya? That is just a BIT much!
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