FTC Food Marketing to Kids Update: Are Watchdogs All Bark No Bite?

Sept. 9, 2010 Where are we now with the whole junk food marketing to kids/obesity prevention discussion? Feels like we’ve been TALKING about "candy bars for breakfast" and citing Pink Princess Fairytale Flakes with ads for sugary slop on TV out the wazoo, along with advergaming (embedded digital trolling, seeding unhealthy junk food) and yet “the more things change, the more … [Read more...]

Should Kids’ Cartoons Sell Fruit & Veggies? Brandwashing Revisited

Sept. 16, 2009 Erma Bombeck once said, “My children refuse to eat anything that hasn’t danced on TV.” Quick! Mind snap: Did you blink to California Raisins boogieing to “Heard it Through the Grapevine?” If so, you’ve been ‘brandwashed’ by that award-winning iconic campaign from FCB so long ago… Next week on Sept. 21, two familiar icons and two slogans will be voted into … [Read more...]

Young Runners: A Media Must For Healthy Track Season

May 18, 2009 I confess, I hate to run…always have. It harkens back to my days in 3rd grade when I was given the moniker ‘paddle foot’ for a goofy gait, and self-consciously abstained from public ridicule in favor of water sports instead...(I grew into my size 9 feet, and those flippers came in handy in the pool!) When Marc Bloom’s new book Young Runners: The Complete Guide to … [Read more...]