The FTC number: $1.6 billion to market to kids

July 31, 2008

The FTC has released its new report on food marketing to kids.  The big news?  The food industry only spends $1.6 billion for this purpose, a figure nobody I know believes.  The FTC had to subpoena this information and I’m sure that companies gave the lowest number they could.  Kellogg may spend $32 million just for media advertising for Cheez-Its, but I’m sure it’s hard for the company to figure out how much of that goes for packages with cartoons on them.  The FTC press release compliments food companies for all the great things they are doing to protect kids from what they used to do.  It makes recommendations that begin with words like “work toward,” “encourage,” “continue,” and “consider,” but nothing much that says “stop!”  I think $1.6 billion is likely to be an underestimate but it doesn’t really matter.  The number should be zero, no?


2 Comments

  1. Check out this article about industry’s well-timed PR spin response to the report. Pretty sickening. I love how they say their self regulation must be carried out over a period of time. Ridiculous.

    Comment by Jill — August 2, 2008 @ 5:26 pm

  2. Useful info, the companies away from the limelight are making all the money.

    Comment by ViSalus — October 18, 2008 @ 11:15 pm

Leave a comment

By clicking "Add Comment" you are agreeing to our Terms of Use

Topics

This is a list of keywords related to posts. The bigger the keyword, the more related posts there are. Click one to view all such posts.
activity additives agriculture alcohol Alice Waters allergies American Dietetic Association animals antibiotics antioxidants beef bisphenol A books Bottled Water breast feeding Brian Wansink burger king calcium calorie labels Calories Canada Cancer center for consumer freedom Cereals China chocolate climate change cloned animals Coca Cola colbert consolidation Cooking measurements COOL corn corn sweeteners Country of Origin Labeling CSPI Dairy diabetes diet and energy drinks dietary guidelines diets e coli eat less move more eating liberally farm policy fast food fats and oils FDA fiber fish food art food assistance Food Composition food crisis food deserts food industry food marketing food miles food policy food safety food stamps food systems Framingham Heart Study Fruits and Vegetables FTC functional foods GAO genetically modified grassfed health claims hfcs Hugo drinks hyperactivity India infant formula Interviews irradiation juice drinks juices junk food kellogg kids diets King Corn Korea krill Labels mad cow Margarines marketing to kids McDonalds meal frequency Meat meat safety media melamine Michael Pollan Monsanto movies natural New Zealand obama action obesity obesity in kids Omega 3 Fats organic fish organic standards organics partnerships PepsiCo pesticides pet food Phil Lempert photos Portion sizes price fixing price of food pyramid Quotes from What to Eat restaurants revolving door salt San Francisco Chronicle school food scoring systems soft drinks sponsorship stevia Sugars supermarkets supplements surveys sweeteners taste taxes television tomatoes toxins trans fat tyson foods USDA vegetarian and vegan Vending machines videos vitamins wall street Whole Foods Whole Grains WIC Yearly Kos