Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

Big Brother v.s. Childhood Obesity

January 27th, 2009
original big brother poster available at tomgpalmer.com

original big brother poster available at tomgpalmer.com

Yesterday in Quebec, Saputo Inc, makers of Vachon snack cakes, pled guilty to 22 charges under a provincial law that prohibits advertising at children under the age of 13.

The company was fined $44,000 for a 2007 marketing campaign that involved distributing Igor cakes and merchandise in daycare centers.

So, what exactly did Saputo/Vachon/Igor do wrong?

igor-vachon-cakeIn 1997, they contracted  P2P Proximité Marketing to promote Igor and his tasty cakes.

And how did they promote these taste treat sensations?

  • They designed a cartoon mascot to represent the product. Nothing new here…does anyone remember Count Chocula, Toucan Sam, the Lucky Charms leprechaun, etc…

[youtube=http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=1cEOKS5-DcQ]

They also created a promotional package that included:

  • A Dance Igor CD
  • An Igor story booklet promoting good nutrition and physical activity
  • Igor stickers
  • 2 Igor cakes, and
  • A bunch of Igor coupons

And then they distributed these Igor promo packages to DAY CARE centers all across Quebec.

Provincially funded day care centers.

They also gave 20 day care participants a group outing of their choice worth $3000.

igor-vachon-saputoAnd they weren’t done yet.

In their attempt to encourage physical activity and healthy eating amongst their potential customers, they created:

  • a website (taken down post verdict),
  • a poster highlighting Igor’s b-boy dance moves, and
  • a dance video designed to help the little kiddies burn off all of that sugar from their post nap-time Igor cake binge.

[youtube=http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=XjFaYWsdNg8]

And  just to put the proverbial icing on the cake, the day-cares had also been told that this program would improve the children’s fitness as they would learn to do the Igor dance.

But this isn’t too surprising when you consider that “the cakes themselves, which were shaped like a gorilla and had strawberry, chocolate or vanilla filling, were billed by the company as “a delicious and nutritious snack” when combined with fruit and milk”.

So, how did this end up in the court room?

Soon after the marketing campaign was launched, Suzie Pellerin, director of an anti-obesity group called Coalition Poids, joined with the Union des consommateurs to file the complaint against Saputo.

After yesterday’s decision, Ms. Pellerin was quoted as saying; “This is a victory for children, considering the impact of junk food on child health.”

Ms. Pellerin said she hopes the charges against Saputo will send a message to other companies. “Using children to sell products goes against the law,” she said. “Since we cannot act on the content of food offered to children, we can at least reduce their exposure to this advertising.”

Her group was also instrumental in prompting the charges against McDonald’s, Burger King and General Mills, expected to go to court this year.

McDonald’s is facing nine charges related to its sponsorship of a series of children’s movies broadcast on Tele-Quebec during the Christmas holidays.

General Mills faces one charge for its Lucky Charms web site, where children can play games featuring Lucky the Leprechaun.

Burger King faces 11 charges stemming from the distribution of toys with their kids’ meals.

Regarding the Burger King complaint, Ms Pellerin said that, “these collectible toys are a form of advertising that encourages children to increase their visits to Burger King restaurants and demand the meal needed to obtain these toys,” the Coalition Poids stated when its complaint was filed in December, 2007.

Okay, hold the phone for just one minute.

We’re talking about little kids here, right?

Little kids demanding junk food and toys.

This is supposed to be surprising? That kids like junk food and crappy fast food restaurant toys???

And where are their parents?

I would have assumed that it’s the parents who actually purchase the junk food.

Are we supposed to believe that these kids are stealing their parent’s SUV, driving down to Burger King and demanding their kiddie meal toys from the pimply faced drive-thru kid?

And how are those kids planning on paying for that kiddie meal?

They don’t have jobs.

You don’t think that they would resort to violence do you?

lord-of-the-fliesIt sounds just like Lord of the Flies.

Except that, instead of a bunch of half-starved savages, Igor and the Saputo gang have created a bunch of overweight, sugar addicted 5 year olds running around holding up fast food restaurants for their kiddie meal toys.

What is this world coming to???

The next thing that you’re going to tell me is that the people who launched this lawsuit aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their hearts and the righteousness of their cause.

That they are in the business of going after bad guys who sell junk food, alcohol and cigarettes.

That they stand to get promotions and increased government funding because of their highly publicized win against Saputo/Vachon.

Damn it!!!

Now I don’t know who to cheer for.

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A BAN on Fast Food TV Advertising Would Reverse Childhood Obesity Trends

November 19th, 2008

fat_kid_tv

In the past few years, childhood obesity has grown from being a personal health issue to a public health issue.

And today, it is fast becoming a political issue.

the-goonies-chunkWay back in the 1980s, this is what a fat kid looked like.

(Bonus points to anyone who recognizes Chunk from “The Goonies”)

Today, Chunk would almost be slim by comparison.

Not only are today’s fat kids fatter than ever, their numbers are swelling as well.

In 2006, the CDC said that “the prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 more than doubled in the past 20 years, going from 6.5% in 1980 to 17.0% in 2006.

The rate among adolescents aged 12 to 19 more than tripled, increasing from 5% to 17.6%“.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, research also shows that there is an 80 percent chance an overweight adolescent will become an obese adult.

But maybe, you’re not a numbers person.

If that’s the case, and this data isn’t enough to grab your attention, take a look at this train-wreck:

Clearly, we have a problem.

What to do, what to do…

Well, according to researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research, a ban on fast food advertisements in the United States could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18%.

brain_socialistShould the U.S. pursue that path, they would follow Sweden, Norway and Finland as the only countries to have banned commercial sponsorship of children’s programs.

This new research builds onto the findings of the 2006 report issued by the Institute of Medicine.

That report:

  • Indicated that there is compelling evidence linking food advertising on television and increased childhood obesity
  • Recommended congressional regulation of television food advertisements aimed at children
  • But also said that the link that would definitively prove that children had become fatter by watching fast food commercials could not be made.”

Michael Grossman, co-author of the NBER study, say that “our study provides evidence of that link.”

The Link between Fast Food TV Advertising and Childhood Obesity

Alright, problem solved.

TV fast food advertising is the villain.

So, what now?

Now we just need a champion to step in and kick a little corporate butt.

Let’s see, who can we get….hmmmmm, who would be a good choice?

Wait, I know!!!

Tipper Gore

fat-kid-loves-cakeThat’s perfect!

Let’s unleash Tipper on those evil fast food and television executives and our childhood obesity problem will disappear faster than the cake at a fat kid’s birthday party.

Okay, I just happen to have her private number right here….dialing……it’s ringing…….someone’s answering…..and…but….but….I see….well..but….ok…thanks anyway…

Sorry people, Tipper’s too busy helping her husband eliminate global warming to help us eliminate childhood obesity.

We’re on our own.

So what do we want to do?

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Hollywood to Declare War on Obesity

August 17th, 2008

By 2030, over 86% of Americans will be OBESE.

And who’s to blame? 

HOLLYWOOD

That’s right, I said it.

Hollywood.

And you thought that they were already doing their part to keep America trim by encouraging all of America’s young women to develop eating disorders in order to look like Angelina Jolie or Keira Knightley.

Well, according to weight-loss expert Dr. Martin Schiff, “Hollywood must share the blame for the obesity epidemic. Every day we see examples of overeating, gorging, food play and general disregard for health in movies and TV shows. No wonder millions of people are overweight.”

WHAT???

Seriously doc, you’re kidding…right?

Nope. He goes on.

“Just as a cigarette hanging from the lips of a “cool” actor can encourage smoking, scenes of gluttony and indiscriminate eating promote obesity in children, according to the good doctor.

He now wants the film industry to introduce a special “O for Obesity” rating so that parents can judge whether a film is suitable.

He also suggests an SE (Suggestive Eating) designation for movies that use fast-food companies in their marketing campaigns.

And this is where he may get his way.

Here’s why.

Last month, the FTC issued a report showing that the nation’s largest food and drink companies, including the fast-food chains, spend about $1.6 billion a year marketing their “food” to America’s children.

While most of that money was spent on television commercials, the FTC says that about $200 million of it was spent on cross promotion.

Those are not real apples -

Those are not real apples

And it’s this cross promotion spending that has got U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s shorts in a knot.

Harkin has been complaining for years about children being enticed to make poor food choices. He questions why the same minds and money behind all this marketing can’t be turned to attracting kids to “healthy snacks, tasty cereals, fruits and vegetables.”

Probably because the fruit and vegetable producers don’t have the marketing budgets of the breakfast cereal, pop and snack food producers.

Shhhhh...Creative Genius at work

Shhhhh...Creative Genius at work

So what is Senator Harkin going to do?

Well….

  • In New York, the city’s health department passed and is enforcing a law requiring all chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus.
  • In Los Angeles, city council has banned the opening of any new fast food restaurants for the next year.
  • San Jose, California is considering a similar moratorium.
  • Across the pond, the Dutch are debating the merits of a nation wide fat-food restaurant ban.

So really, is it that big a stretch to think that some combination of government and public pressure may push Hollywood into slapping a couple of new rating categories on the next Hollywood blockbuster.

I mean, come on. The last thing we want is for poor old Angelina Jolie to get any fatter than she already is.

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Your Kids are being Targeted

August 4th, 2008

I just read a great post by Lisa Newton (CEO of Iowa Avenue), in which she exposes the amount of marketing money spent to encourage your children to drink pop, eat cereal and get fat.

Summary of Lisa’s Post

Food producers spend $867,761,000 per year marketing carbonated beverages, breakfast cereals and snack foods to your kids.

In comparison, $65,938,000 (or 8% of the pop/cereal/junk food budget) was spent marketing dairy products, fruits and vegetables.

Here is the full list

But wait, the government is taking steps to reverse the growth of childhood obesity.

Big government money.

“The Centers for Disease Control’s current annual budget for nutrition, physical activity, and obesity is about $41 million for Americans of all ages. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Team Nutrition, whose goal is to improve children’s eating and physical-activity habits, has an annual budget of about $10 million“.

$51 million?

That’s it?

Hell, Dick Cheney spent that much on shotgun ammo last year alone.

Let’s recap:

$867,761,000 per year spent on marketing carbonated beverages, breakfast cereals and snack foods to your kids.

In comparison, $65,938,000 was spent marketing dairy products, fruits and vegetables to your kids.

And the government spent $51,000,000 marketing healthy eating and exercise to your kids.

In total, just under 13.5% of the pop, cereal and junk food budget is spent on marketing healthy alternatives.

And we wonder why our kids are FAT.

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Newsflash! – Junk food advertising is misleading!!!

April 18th, 2008

The BBC has reported that 83% of U.K. consumers “believed irresponsible marketing was making it harder to encourage children to eat well”.

The survey was conducted by Which?, the U.K.’s largest independent consumer organization.

The survey also found that “most of the 2,000 questioned want the government to do more to control the marketing of unhealthy food to children”.

Currently, the Brits have banned television commercials promoting junk food programmes aimed at children under 16.

Supporters of this survey are now calling for complete ban on junk food advertising on ALL programmes aired before 9 p.m. Additionally, they are requesting the government impose rules addressing junk food advertising on the internet and on packaging.

The ‘icing on the cake’ argument was offered by Clare Corbett, a food campaigner at Which?.

Corbett said “With childhood obesity and diet-related health problems on the increase, the government must take serious action and soon.”

To summarize:

  • Junk food is bad
  • Advertisers brainwash children into wanting junk food
  • Children pester their parents
  • Parents feed their children junk food
  • Children get fat eating junk food while watching television ads about junk food
  • The U.K.’s largest consumer protection group asks parents if the government should be doing more to keep their children safe from obesity
  • Parents overwhelmingly agree, demanding that the government solve childhood obesity by removing the offending advertisements.
  • Advertisers produce another survey indicating that “76% of UK adults believe that introducing a 9pm watershed on food advertising would not reduce the level of childhood obesity”.
  • The government is left to decide if banning all junk food ads on t.v. before 9 p.m. will win them the next election.

Your daily dose of reality

  • Junk food is bad
  • We are genetically disposed to prefer sweet, salty, greasy, calorie dense foods. We crave these things as a mechanism of survival. Genetics. Millions of years.
  • Advertisers know this. Food manufacturers know this. They sell us what we want. If we don’t want it, we won’t buy it. If we don’t buy it, they won’t sell it.
  • Every parent knows that feeding your children junk food while sitting them in front of the t.v. is guaranteed to make them fat.

What to do, what to do

  • Parents set the example for their children.
  • Stop buying junk food. Not just for your children, you too.
  • Stop watching t.v. Get outside and exercise. If it’s too cold, read a book.
  • Stop expecting the government to do everything for you.

The rant endeth.

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