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...]

Youth Riffs On HFCS Ads: Web 2.0 Satire Is Snowballing

What do ants and rubber tree plants have to do with syrupy HFCS ads and high hopes for the future of youth media mobilization? Stay with me after the jump to find out... Last week I wrote about my teen's incredulous response to the patronizing propaganda sugar-coating the airwaves about HFCS, high fructose corn syup… Then I followed up with the dietary … [Read more...]