Protecting kids from Tony the Tiger and Cap’n Crunch
Kellog became the latest corporate giant to roll over for a threatened lawsuit.
WASHINGTON - Kellogg Co., the world's largest cereal maker, has agreed to raise the nutritional value of cereals and snacks it markets to children.
The Battle Creek, Mich., company avoided a lawsuit threatened by parents and nutrition advocacy groups worried about increasing child obesity. Kellogg intends to formally announce its decision Thursday.
The company said it won't promote foods in TV, radio, print or Web site ads that reach audiences at least half of whom are under age 12 unless a single serving of the product meets these standards:
_No more than 200 calories.
_No trans fat and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat.
_No more than 230 milligrams of sodium, except for Eggo frozen waffles.
_No more than 12 grams of sugar, not counting sugar from fruit, dairy and vegetables.
Kellogg said it would reformulate products to meet these criteria or stop marketing them to children under 12 by the end of 2008.
Whew, good thing that got handled!
"By committing to these nutrition standards and marketing reforms, Kellogg has vaulted over the rest of the food industry," said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "This commitment means that parents will find it a little easier to steer their children toward healthy food choices — especially if other food manufacturers and broadcasters follow Kellogg's lead."
Parents “steering” their kids to healthy choices? Does your six year old have a credit card and their own car? If not, then how about you show some backbone as a parent and tell the child that you will eat this and you will not. Our kids don’t eat many vegetables, but that is my issue, not Toucan Sam.
Jacobson's nutrition advocacy group, along with two Massachusetts parents and the Boston-based Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood, had served notice in January 2006 of intent to sue Kellogg and the Nickelodeon cable TV network under a Massachusetts law to stop them from marketing junk food to kids.
Hey "Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood", here is a thought: TURN OFF THE TV! If you don’t want your kids being bombarded with commercials, turn off or remove the TV. We did, and my kids are far less materialistic than they were in the days of digital cable. Commercials are designed to sell stuff, and if you voluntarily allow your kids to watch TV, they are going to see commercials, and those commercials are designed to sell their product.
Stop blaming everyone around you for your lack of resolve as a parent.
We have devolved into a culture where everyone else is responsible for the raising of children. We want kids, but don’t want to give up any toys or vacations or lifestyle, so we pay a day care to warehouse them all day. We don’t have time for family devotional time (I am guilty of this), so we expect the church to teach our children everything they need to know about their God. We can’t be bothered to read to our kids, so we ship them to school to take care of their education and “socialization”.
I am by no means a perfect parent, but I don’t blame society/TV/corporations/my parents/my church/the neighbors/the weather on my failings. Where I fall down, where I fail to act as a godly parent, the blame starts and stops squarely with me.
Perhaps that was a bit over the top. Perhaps not. But what is our society going to look like in 100 years? Or even more pertinent, will it be here or will we have succumbed to our own success, surrendered to Islam, given in to apathy. We better stop worrying about Boo Berries and start worrying about the direction of our society.
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