by Steve Gardner
Yesterday, the FTC showed significant signs of life, announcing a consent decree against the Kellogg Company for claiming that it had scientific proof that its Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal improved children's attentiveness by 20 percent (!!!).
In terms of sheer gall in marketing food for kids, Kellogg's efforts to promote this sugary cereal as an alternative to ADD medication is surpassed recently only by Coke's claim (in Australia) that Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain, obesity and tooth decay (!!!!!). The Australian government shut down those claims.
In the FTC action, the most notable thing (aside from Kellogg's aforementioned gall) was this statement by the newly appointed Chair of the FTC, Jon Leibowitz:
We tell consumers that they should deal with trusted national brands. So it’s especially important that America’s leading companies are more ‘attentive’ to the truthfulness of their ads and don’t exaggerate the results of tests or research. In the future, the Commission will certainly be more attentive to national advertisers.
After years of not-so-benign neglect of consumers, it's good to see that the Commission will focus more attention on the companies who are setting the standards for deceptive advertising, rather than just taking action against smaller companies.
Wow, that's a good style of advertising.
-Daniel
Posted by: Hispanic advertising agency | Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 09:22 AM
Wow, what will they try to pass off next? That's like saying eating a cheese burger for breakfast will make you run faster in gym class. Any cereal with "sugar" in the first line of ingredients is a red flag for me.
Posted by: Iron Vitamins | Tuesday, May 05, 2009 at 08:15 AM