FTC Reports on Kiddie Food Ads

Posted by Cyndi Allison Jul 31, 2008

The Federal Trade Commission reports that food companies are doing a better job in stressing nutrition for children and teens - to the tune of $1.6 billion in ads yearly. Hum. Well, that's not all spent to promote nutrition of course. Most of the ad budget is doled out freely to get the kids to beg you to buy specific brands and to eat at certain restaurants.

You don't think McDonalds sells you cheap Happy Meals with toys as a community service gesture. Nope. They know how to rope in customers - some before they can even talk. My oldest kid would point and grunt at the Golden Arches before he could talk enough to say he wanted to stop. He, of course, still loves McDonalds (though we most often eat home cooking).

If you've never seen the Eddie Murphy comedy sketch on McDonalds burgers, you ought to give that a look. You can just imagine him as a kid and his Momma's home burgers with green peppers sticking out and served on white bread. He probably appreciates those now, but a kid sees the others with those burgers wrapped in M papers. Very cool. Not such tasty burgers. Oh well. That's what most of them want.

We live out in the middle of nowhere basically, so home cooking is the norm. The boys would really rather have a home cooked meal. They do watch TV though, and they do ask for things they see. We end up with cereal that looks great on TV but does not taste so wonderful at home. Guess who gets to eat the cereal and who gets the free toy?