Mom, Dad, Buy the Broccoli

December 1, 2006
Editorial - www.nytimes.com
Mom, Dad, Buy the Broccoli

The commercials selling empty calories like candy and soft drinks to children have gotten so out of control in recent years that now even the food industry has taken notice. Last month, 10 companies that produce almost two-thirds of the food and drink advertising for children under 12 agreed to start cutting back on advertising junk foods.

Their plan, administered through the Council of Better Business Bureaus, is to make certain that at least half of the advertising for younger children promotes healthier foods and lifestyles. They also agreed not to advertise in elementary schools or place their products in children’s entertainment. And they promised to limit the use of beloved cartoon or movie characters to help sell junk food.

Michael Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a health advocacy group, quickly labeled the effort “pretty pathetic.” Other critics warn that the companies are merely attempting to police themselves before a Democratic Congress does it for them. Rather than patting these corporate types on the back — or kicking them in the knees — at this early stage, let’s see how their idea really works.

The Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a group formed to run the program, is expected to help the 10 food and beverage manufacturers come up with their own individual guidelines in six to nine months. (The corporations involved are General Mills, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hershey, Kellogg, Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup, Kraft Foods and Unilever.) The first concern is how well this new industry group can help these corporations create decent and transparent guidelines. Then, the issue is whether it can enforce these standards on its own members.

Obesity among the young has become a health emergency, and the rates of diabetes and other adult diseases among American children are a national scandal. For years, the food and drink and candy industries have made unhealthy products irresistible to those under 12. Now the question is whether they can make healthy food and behavior look even better.

While I'm not exactly applauding any of these companies just yet, I think it’s a step in the right direction.

Let’s just see if it even works.

Hmmm...

This really is a double-edged sword - on the one hand it's a good thing to limit advertising directed at children; on the other, what is the definition of "healthy" that will be used to determine what is advertised.

Then add to this - the proposal is that HALF of advertising will promote this unknown ideal of healthy food....the other half? I'm assuming crap is just fine for the remaining advertising directed at kids.

Call me a skeptic, but this one sounds better than it will ever be...