Posts Tagged ‘advertising regulation’
Posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2012 by Michele Simon
I recently gave several talks at the American Public Health Association conference, an annual gathering of some 12,000 enthusiastic public health professionals. In years past, not many presentations (other than my own) focused on the role of corporations to harm the public’s health. I am happy to report this is changing, as numerous panels struck such a theme. The following is a summary of my talk on the recent failed attempt by the federal government to rein in junk food marketing to children, and why it’s time to set a new and much bolder course to fix this problem.
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Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Food Policy, Marketing to Children | Tagged: advertising regulation, American Public Health Association, Congress, Federal Trade Commission, General Mills, Let's Move, targeted marketing | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (12) |
Posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2012 by Michele Simon
Last week McDonald’s Canada posted a video on YouTube entitled, “Behind the scenes at a McDonald’s photo shoot,” which purports to answer a question from a customer on why McDonald’s food looks different in ads than it does in reality. So to answer this question, Hope Bagazzi, director of marketing for McDonald’s Canada takes us on a tour of how the food stylists with the company’s advertising firm prepare a cheeseburger and how that differs from what it really looks like. The idea, so it appears, is to be transparent and honest about how McDonald’s portrays its food in advertisements.
The video has gone viral, inching toward six million views. I even tweeted it myself. But one of my followers who lives in Vancouver, Anne Rosenberg was not fooled. She sent me the following email:
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Posted in Big Food | Tagged: advertising regulation, marketing practices, McDonald's, public relations | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (5) |
Posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 by Michele Simon
In August, I reported on a lawsuit against ConAgra for deceptive labeling of its Wesson brand of cooking oils as “natural.” The case alleges that the products contain genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), which are not by any stretch of the imagination, natural. A similar case was recently filed in California (by the same class action firm – Milberg) against Frito-Lay — the snacks division of food and beverage giant PepsiCo.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Marketing to Children | Tagged: advertising regulation, American Dietetic Association, deceptive health claims, FDA, Frito-Lay, GMO labeling, junk food, Monsanto, natural, PepsiCo | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (9) |
Posted on Saturday, December 17th, 2011 by Michele Simon
Last month, when Congress declared pizza a vegetable, it was hard to believe things could get much worse. But never underestimate politicians’ ability to put corporate interests ahead of children’s health. In the massive budget bill just passed, Congress stuck in language to require the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a cost/benefit analysis before finalizing a report that would provide the food industry with science-based nutrition guidelines for marketing to children. Experts from four federal agencies put heads together, and for the past two years have tried to complete its charge (which ironically, came from Congress in the first place) amidst powerful industry push-back.
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Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Food Policy, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children | Tagged: advertising regulation, Congress, junk food, lobbying, nutrition labeling, Obama, politics, school food policy, targeted marketing, voluntary self-regulation | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (31) |
Posted on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 by Michele Simon
When it comes to food, everybody’s got an opinion. Same goes for parenting. Mix the two together and you’ve got the makings of a culture war. Witness the recent scuffle between Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama over the White House’s rather tame Let’s Move campaign aimed at ending childhood obesity.
So last month, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest announced it was filing a class action lawsuit to stop McDonald’s from using Happy Meal toys to market to children, the fierce and ugly backlash against the mother of two who was brave enough to attach her name to the case was predictable.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Marketing to Children | Tagged: advertising regulation, fast food, McDonald's, targeted marketing | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (2) |
