There restrictions seem pretty reasonable. They try their best not to market their more unhealthy foods to the under 12 crowd and they have removed their unhealhty products for school programs as well.
It is important to realize that they still market to young children. The Trix rabbit obviously only appeals to children. They use little toys in their boxes to attract children etc. However, marketing is even deeper than that. Product placement in stores is planned out. Companies pay stores to get the placement they want on shelves. Sugary cereals that young children love are placed lower on the shelves. Why? So they can take the box of cereal to their parents and beg them to get it.
My opinion? I can't bring myself to demonize General Mills or companies in similar situations. The consumer ultimately knows what they want. The consumers are the ones that crave these sugary cereals. When General Mills says they market healthy food and it doesn't sell, I 100% believe them. Some may ask why they don't just pull all their unhealthy foods and only give consumers the option to buy healthy foods, but if they did that then another company would provide the sugary cereals that the consumer craves. Obesity WILL NOT be solved by villainizing the corporations. One thing I learned from Keystone is that it will take cooperation from corporations, non profits, academia, and government to solve the problem and the solution ultimately lies within the consumers.
General Mill's and their sugary cereals was just and example, but I spoke to ConAgra and they have had similar issues with their brands as well. Wondering exactly what brands both General Mills and ConAgra own? The length of their products would shock you. You don't realize how much of the different brands you own are actually provided by a single corporation like Con Agra.
All I'll say is that Trix and Fruit Roll-ups are basically candy. Poor quality candy, at that. If they are marketed as desserts, that's one thing. They are instead marketed as -- in the case of Trix -- a healthy meal for kids and -- in the case of Fruit Roll-ups -- an excellent source of a vital nutrient that (by implication) is a healthy snack. Again: for kids.
ReplyDeleteI'm not asking for them to try to cram wheat germ down our throats. I am, however, calling them out for dubious packaging and, as you point out, insidious/ingenious product placement.
Yes, it's buyer beware. But for General Mills and Con Agra to be completely "blameless" they're going to have to market and label their products accurately. Until they do that, they're part of the problem. Not the entire problem, but part of it.
PS...Read the Responsible Marketing Plan and I think you'd have to be a nutritionist with a law degree to parse that baby out. Seems to me a couple of words still apply, however: Wiggle. Room.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, it does explain why they trumpet "whole grain corn" as the main ingredient of Trix. "Whole grain" is a distinction that they've decided gives them wiggle room because it's been targeted as something people need to eat more of. So if one of their products has whole grain (or no fat, etc) they allow themselves to bend their rules a little.
Ethos there is still a little shaky to me. But that's just me.
And I agree: we're all responsible for what we consume. Bottom line.