Food Beverage Marketing

Nestlé’s nutritional advice recommends avoiding Kraft Lunchables, but Nestlé puts its candy in Lunchables anyway

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing /

This week, as millions of American children return to classrooms and lunchrooms, moms and dads are trying to sort out which pre-made food products are conducive to learning and a healthy diet and which are flashy, sophisticated packages of junk food. Nestlé, which deems itself “the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company” has teamed up with Kraft Foods to sell three of its candy brands (Nestlé, Crunch, Nerds, and Kit Kat) in Kraft’s Lunchables. Nestle candy is included in “Lunchables with Juice” varieties containing “Light Bologna and American Cracker Stacker,” “Pizza with Pepperoni made with Pork, Chicken and Beef,” and “Nachos, Cheese Dip and Salsa.” A picture of Nestlé candy is featured prominently on Lunchables product packaging: The inclusion of Nestlé candy in these products is perplexing because Nestlé maintains a health and nutrition-focused website for parents called NestleFamily.com where it proffers tips for packing healthy school lunches by Dr. Christine Wood. A look at four of Nestlé\’s healthy lunch tips reveals that Kraft Lunchables products with Nestlé candy fall short. The first tip: “Pack 100% juice boxes.” Tip two: “Try to limit the frequency of using processed luncheon meats because of the nitrates in them. (Nitrates are preservatives found in many cooked and cured meats and should be given sparingly to young children.)” Tip three: “Your kids will be more interested in healthy eating if they get involved in the preparation.” Tip four: Use fresh fruits and vegetables. NestleFamily.com says “Packing a healthy lunch for your kids can be a challenge!” It sure can. Especially when food manufacturers talk about healthy foods and junk.

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PHAI joins the Center for Digital Democracy and others in complaint to FTC over children’s websites’ “Tell-A-Friend” tactics

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing, Legal Filings, Press Release /

Today the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston has joined a coalition of children’s, health, privacy and consumer advocacy organizations in a complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission against several children’s websites for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The offending children’s websites use a “Tell-A-Friend” feature to induce children to provide e-mail addresses of their peers. The websites involved include McDonald’s HappyMeal.com, General Mills’ ReesesPuffs.com and TrixWorld.com, Doctor’s Associates’ SubwayKids.com, Viacom’s Nick.com, and Turner Broadcasting’s CartoonNetwork.com. The Tell-A-Friend tactic uses a game or other child-targeted activity as a way to engage children in an immersive  marketing experience and then directs users to share the activity with friends by entering multiple e-mail addresses.  Those children will receive an e-mail that may or may not appear to be from their friend urging them to go to a child-targeted marketing website. This viral marketing tactic creates and reinforces brand awareness providing value to the advertiser.  All of this occurs without prompts for any parental consent and, in McDonald\’s case, may involve distributing a photograph of the child taken by webcam to recipients of the e-mail message. Mark Gottlieb, Executive Director of PHAI, noted that, “COPPA was enacted by Congress to protect children under 13 from divulging any personal information to commercial interests on the Internet without the consent of a parent. By inducing young kids to provide the e-mail addresses of their peers, the companies involved here are certainly violating the spirit of COPPA and, it would appear, the letter of the law as well through these \”Tell-A-Friend” practices. This is something that state attorneys general could also investigate under their consumer protection authority because these tactics are unfair and deceptive.” In addition to the Center for Digital Democracy which has published the complaints on its website, PHAI was joined by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Berkeley Media Studies Group, Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood, Center for Media Justice, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Children Now, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Watchdog, ChangeLab Solutions, Global Action Project, Media Literacy Project, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Public Citizen, and the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University.

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For Many Living With Limb Loss, “Open Happiness” Doesn’t Ring True

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing /

by Cara Wilking, JD As part of its 2012 Olympic Games marketing blitz, the Coca-Cola Company has assembled a “Coca-Cola 8-pack of Athletes” to “serve as Coca-Cola \’Ambassadors of Active Living’ to help encourage and inspire people to lead active, balanced lives.”[1] This group includes Jessica Long, a 2012 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team nominee.[2] Ms. Long was born with fibular hemimelia, a condition of the lower legs, and became a double leg amputee at 18 months old.[3] Ms. Long’s athletic achievements are undeniable and her seamless inclusion in the marketing campaign is in line with equality and dignity for all. The tragic reality of lower limb loss, however, is that the majority of people suffering from non-traumatic lower limb loss are diabetic, and it is not medically appropriate for diabetics to consume sugar-sweetened beverages. From what has been released of the campaign so far, the “Coca-Cola 8-Pack of Athletes” promotes full-sugar Coca-Cola. Ms. Long is no exception. Her commercial, entitled “Home,” shows her swimming as a child in her grandparents’ backyard pool and moving through a range of global swim competitions.[4] The commercial ends with Ms. Long drinking from a bottle of full-sugar Coca-Cola. Cans of full-sugar Coca-Cola are shown next to the tagline “Open Happiness” and an announcer says, “Support our athletes with the Cola-Cola Olympic Series Collector’s Cans.” In other words, “Buy Coke!” If one of the goals of Coca-Cola’s “8-pack of Athletes” campaign is to inspire people, including those suffering from limb loss, to lead active lives, then why does the campaign promote a product diabetics are under doctor’s orders to avoid? Sugar-sweetened beverages like Coca-Cola are associated with obesity-related diseases including Type 2 Diabetes.[5] The Centers for Disease Control estimates that as many as 1 in 3 U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050.[6] The links between diabetes and limb loss are stark and tragic: As inspiring as Ms. Long’s journey is, for many people living with the loss of a limb there is no “happiness” to be found in a can of Coke—a fact the Coca-Cola Company seems to have overlooked. [1] The Coca-Cola Company, Press Release, Coca-Cola Opens Happiness With Its New “8-Pack” of Athletes for London 2012 Olympic Games, May 17, 2011, http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/2011/05/eight-pack-of-athletes-for-london-2012-olympic-games.html; and The Coca-Cola Company, Move To the Beat of London, http://www.coca-cola.com/theolympics/en-US (last visited June 28, 2012). [2] Coke 2012 Olympics Commercial: Jessica Long “Home”, YouTube.com, June 19, 2012, CocaCola, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpFrYaL6N2w&feature=plcp (last visited June 27, 2012). [3] About Jessica, GraceLong.com, http://www.gracelong.com/index.php/about (last visited June 27, 2012). [4] Coke 2012 Olympics Commercial: Jessica Long “Home”, YouTube.com, June 19, 2012, CocaCola, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpFrYaL6N2w&feature=plcp (last visited June 27, 2012). [5] Vasanti S. Malik et al, Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk, 12 Circulation, 1356-1364 (2010). [6] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Press Release, Number of Americans with Diabetes Projected to Double of Triple by 2050, http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r101022.html. [7] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Diabetes Fact Sheet: National Estimates and General Information on Diabetes and Prediabetes in the United States, 2011, at 1, http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/local-offices/miami-florida/assets/files/national-diabetes-fact-sheet.pdf. [8] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Diabetes Fact Sheet: National Estimates and General Information on Diabetes and Prediabetes in the United States, 2011, at 8, http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/local-offices/miami-florida/assets/files/national-diabetes-fact-sheet.pdf. [9] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Living with Diabetes: Keeping Your Feet Healthy, http://www.cdc.gov/Features/DiabetesFootHealth/. [10] Diabetes Statistics, American Diabetes Association, http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/?loc=DropDownDB-stats (last visited June 27, 2012). [11] Living with Diabetes: African Americans & Complications, American Diabetes Association, http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/african-americans-and-complications.html (last visited June 27, 2012). [12] National Limb Loss Information Center, Minorities, Diabetes and Limb Loss (May 2008), http://www.amputee-coalition.org/fact_sheets/multicultural/all_groups.pdf (citing Robert Preidt, Blacks, Hispanics Hospitalized More Often for Diabetes, Heart Disease, HealthDay: News for Healthier Living, August 15, 2006. [13] Kathryn Ziegler-Graham et al, Estimating the Prevalence of Limb Loss in the United States: 2005 to 2050, 89 Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 422, 424 (March 2008).

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PHAI’s Friedman and Gottlieb Co-author: “Soda and Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns: How Do They Compare?” in PLoS Medicine

Food Beverage Marketing, Press Release, Publications, Tobacco /

PHAI senior staff attorney Lissy Friedman and executive director Mark Gottlieb collaborated with Lori Dorfman, Andrew Cheyne and Asiya Wadud of the Berkeley Media Studies Group to produce this article published today in PLoS Medicine. Soda companies’ PR campaigns are bad for health: Health advocates need to organize strong public health campaigns to educate the public and policymakers about the dangers of both sugary beverages and the misleading industry corporate social responsibility campaigns that distract from their products’ health risks, according to US experts writing in this week’s PLoS Medicine. In a Policy Forum article, the authors (media and public health experts from Berkeley and Boston, USA) examined prominent campaigns from industry leaders PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, that, according to the authors, have embraced corporate social responsibility (CSR) with elaborate, expensive, and multinational campaigns. The authors say that while soda companies may not face the level of social stigmatization or regulatory pressure that now confronts Big Tobacco, concern over soda and the obesity epidemic is growing. In response to health concerns about their products, the authors argue that soda companies have launched comprehensive CSR initiatives sooner than did tobacco companies but that these campaigns echo the tobacco industry’s use of CSR as a means to focus responsibility on consumers rather than the corporation, bolster the companies’ and products’ popularity, and to prevent regulation. However, unlike tobacco CSR campaigns, soda company CSR campaigns explicitly target young people and aim to increase sales. The authors say: “It is clear that the soda CSR campaigns reinforce the idea that obesity is caused by customers’ “bad” behavior, diverting attention from soda’s contribution to rising obesity rates.” They continue: “For example, CSR campaigns that include the construction and upgrading of parks for youth who are at risk for diet-related illnesses keep the focus on physical activity, rather than on unhealthful foods and drinks. Such tactics redirect the responsibility for health outcomes from corporations onto its consumers, and externalize the negative effects of increased obesity to the public.” The authors argue: “Emerging science on the addictiveness of sugar, especially when combined with the known addictive properties of caffeine found in many sugary beverages, should further heighten awareness of the product’s public health threat similar to the understanding about the addictiveness of tobacco products.” They conclude: “Public health advocates must continue to monitor the CSR activities of soda companies, and remind the public and policymakers that, similar to Big Tobacco, soda industry CSR aims to position the companies, and their products, as socially acceptable rather than contributing to a social ill.” This article is one in a PLoS Medicine series on Big Food that examines the activities and influence of the food and beverage industry in the health arena. The series runs for three weeks beginning 19 June 2012 and all articles will be collected at www.ploscollections.org/bigfood. Twitter hashtag #plosmedbigfood Funding: This research was supported by the Healthy Eating Research program (http://www.healthyeatingresearch.org/) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, grant #68240. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Download the article here.

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The Hidden Energy Costs of School Beverage Vending Machines

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing /

PHAI has produced a fact sheet detailing state-by-state electricity costs of traditional cold beverage vending machines. A traditional cold beverage vending machine consumes an estimated 3000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year (kWh/yr). That translates to an average annual energy cost of $313 per machine. Even more energy efficient machines still use between 1200 and 1500 kWh/yr. When multiplied over the total number of machines housed on school property, the electricity cost required to operate cold beverage vending machines amounts to a significant hidden expense for schools that should be subtracted from school beverage vending revenue and taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to renew a beverage vending contract. Download the fact sheet here

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PepsiCo Unfairly and Deceptively Targets Teens with Its “Win from Within” Gatorade Campaign

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing, Uncategorized /

The Public Health Advocacy Institute has submitted a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting that it use its authority under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to investigate PepsiCo’s current “Win from Within” commercial television advertisement and commercial website for its Gatorade sports drink product featuring Michael Jordan’s performance during game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals (hereinafter “Jordan Ad”) that he played while suffering from a fever and flu-like symptoms. This game is popularly referred to as the “Flu Game.” The Jordan Ad depicts Mr. Jordan holding a Gatorade cup during the game and asserts that Gatorade was a key to his game-winning performance. Enforcement action is warranted because the Jordan Ad: The “Win from Within” ad series is designed to target teens, and the campaign is intended to deliver sports nutrition information to teens. PepsiCo’s media buys for the Gatorade Jordan Ad also appear to target teens. The average U.S. teen (12-17 years) saw 1.85 of these ads during the first quarter of 2012, 22% more ads than adults saw. More than half of this exposure occurred on teen-targeted cable networks, including Adult Swim, Teen Nick, ABC Family, and MTV. PepsiCo has put itself in the position of being a messenger of sports nutrition and health information to its core Gatorade product demographic of teens. There is already enormous pressure on teen athletes to win at all costs by practicing during extreme heat and playing through injuries. The Jordan Ad creates the distinct impression that so long as you are drinking Gatorade you should not sit out a game or stay home when you are seriously ill with a fever. This message contravenes the medical recommendations for people suffering from flu-like symptoms and fever and puts teens in danger. The FTC should order PepsiCo to engage in corrective advertising that advises teens to not engage in physical activity when they have the flu or are suffering from a fever, describes the dangers of competing in sports when ill, and clearly states that Gatorade is not intended to be used to enhance the athletic performance of teens who are suffering from the flu or a fever. See our letter to the FTC here

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FDA Action Needed to Address Diet Coke’s Blatant & Unlawful Use of Heart Health Claims

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing, Legal Filings /

The Public Health Advocacy Institute is asking the FDA to investigate and take enforcement action against The Coca-Cola Company’s unlawful use of heart health claims on cans of Diet Coke. In February of 2010, 2011 and 2012, The Coca-Cola Company has released Diet Coke cans labeled with a large red heart symbol, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s “The Heart Truth” Red Dress logo, and references to women’s heart health. Taken together, the large red heart symbol, the Red Dress logo and references to heart health imply a relationship between consuming a specific food, Diet Coke, and reduced risk for heart disease. The cans pictured below represent the cans in circulation in 2012 (left), 2011 (center) and 2010 (right). The FDA defines health claims to include “any claim made on the label or in labeling of a food…that expressly or by implication, including ‘third party’ references, written statements (e.g., a brand name including a term such as ‘heart’), symbols (e.g., a heart symbol), or vignettes, characterizes the relationship of any substance to a disease or health-related condition.” 21 CFR § 101.14 (a)(1). In its food labeling guidance the FDA states, “ health claims characterize a relationship between a substance (specific food component or a specific food) and a disease (e.g., lung cancer or heart disease) or health-related condition (e.g., high blood pressure), and are supported by scientific evidence (see 21 CFR 101.1472).” FDA, Guidance for Industry: A Food Labeling Guide (April 2008), http://www.fda.gov. The use of the heart symbol, the phrase “The Heart Truth” and the reference to a national health organization implies that Diet Coke consumption is beneficial to heart health. This claim is not supported by scientific evidence and is not otherwise allowed under FDA regulations. This type of misbranding is especially damaging to the public because it unequivocally links the product to a desired health outcome through multiple uses of the word “heart” and the use of a heart symbol—expressly the type of symbols, third party references and words the FDA references in its regulations and guidance on health claims for the food industry. The FDA should act immediately to investigate The Coca-Cola Company’s unlawful use of this health claim, issue the appropriate warning letter and take enforcement action as necessary.

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General Mills Uses Whole Grain Claims to Distract from Sugar Content

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing /

By Cara Wilking, Staff Attorney Federally mandated weight-based cereal serving sizes, and the industry sponsored front-of-package Nutrition Keys labeling scheme has meant that when consumers compare calories most cereals look just about the same. The Big G cereals Wheaties, Kix, Lucky Charms, Cookie Crisp, and Cinnamon Burst Cheerios all have 100 or 110 calories per serving. But sugar content and serving size by volume varies widely. For example, Kix and Cinnamon Burst Cheerios both list 110 calories per serving, but Kix has just 3 grams of sugar per 1 ¼ cup serving while the pre-sweetened Cheerios product has 9 grams of sugar per 1 cup. General Mills’ use of a uniform campaign for its Big G cereals is designed to make its entire portfolio of products look healthy by distracting attention from sugar content. Its website even features a page about sugar comparing plain Cheerios (1 gram of sugar per serving) to Trix (10 grams of sugar per serving ) that asks: “From a calorie and nutrient standpoint, are both products a good breakfast choice?” The answer: “Yes, they are. In fact, all General Mills cereals are lower calorie, nutrient-dense choices.”Perhaps this campaign is a sign that its sugary cereals are losing market share? If it is, General Mills should put its resources into developing breakfast products that are actually healthy for children instead of trying to prop up sugary cereal sales with claims about whole grain content.

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The Cost of McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing, Uncategorized /

By Cara Wilking, Staff Attorney The passage of San Francisco’s Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance and McDonald\’s recent decision to “comply” with the law by charging 10 cents in order to be able to include toys with meals that do not meet minimal nutritional criteria has engendered a lot of public debate. The following table summarizes information from a 2005 Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board decision with Happy Meal cost information from the period between 1999 and 2001: Toy, Food, Condiment & Paper Costs to McDonald\’s Restaraunts of Massachusetts (1999-2001) in US Dollars   Hamburger Happy Meal Cheese-burger Happy Meal 4-piece McNugget Happy Meal Happy Meal Toy Only Toy cost 0.43 0.4299 0.4299 0.43 Food cost 0.3104 0.3561 0.4147   Condiment cost 0.0162 0.0162 0.0476 (average)   Paper cost 0.0434 0.0340 0.049   Total cost 0.8000 0.8362 0.9412   Menu Price 1.99 2.39 2.69 1.69 For the periods covered, McDonald’s reported that it paid its toy supplier 43 cents per toy. The total cost to McDonald’s for the toy and packaging of the Happy Meals was greater than the cost of food for each Happy Meal type. McDonald’s included a toy with every Happy Meal and sold the toys separately for a retail price of $1.69. The company  noted that it had a dedicated key on its registers in order to process separate toy sales. In an issue advertisement run by McDonald’s explaining its 10 cent Happy Meal toy plan, the company wrote: “we feel a responsibility to our customers – including parents…who would like to have the option of purchasing…[a toy] separately for their kids.” In reality, prior to the ordinance all customers, including parents, had the option to purchase a toy separate from a Happy Meal. To comply with the letter and the spirit of San Francisco\’s ordinance, McDonald’s could have stopped putting toys in with Happy Meals that did not meet nutritional criteria. Customers wanting to buy a toy separately, including parents, would then be treated as they always have been—rung up using the dedicated register key and charged the retail price of the toy. The good news is that, as Michele Simon points out, there is an easy legal fix to the 10 cent toy strategy. In the short term, McDonald\’s response amounts to an incredible missed opportunity to break away from a business model whereby the inedible portion of its children’s meals cost more to produce than the edible portion. The cost spent on toys could be spent to improve the nutritional profile of its children’s menu. The result could have been less trash in the form of discarded toys, a boon to fruit and vegetable producers all over the United States who supply McDonald’s, and, most importantly, healthier kids. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PESTER POWER MARKETING STRATEGIES PLEASE SEE OUR PESTER POWER ISSUE BRIEF.

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PHAI Releases New Resources to Use Law to Fight Junk Food Marketing to Kids

Food Beverage Marketing, News, Press Release, Publications /

Food and beverage marketing targeting children is a major focus of the food and beverage industry because, as the Institute of Medicine’s report on the subject bluntly declared, “marketing works.” Deceptive and unfair marketing to promote high-calorie low-nutrient foods and beverages affect parent-consumer food purchasing decisions and induce demand among children for products that contribute to obesity and overweight. Such marketing campaigns can run afoul of an array of legal authorities that provide consumer protection from such practices. PHAI conducted extensive 50-state research examining the provisions of state consumer protection laws of the United States that prohibit unfair, deceptive or unconscionable sales and marketing campaigns. Depending on the state, these consumer protection laws may be used by stakeholders in child health, including parents, as well as state attorneys general to stop unfair or deceptive marketing and advertising of unhealthy food and beverage products linked to overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. The research focuses on the legal limits of (1) direct marketing to children and teens to get them to use their own spending money to purchase food products for themselves, and (2) “pester power” marketing that targets children to get them to persuade their parents into buying products for them. To make it easy to find and compare state consumer protection laws, we have created an interactive map linking to consumer protection law profiles of every state and the District of Columbia. Key findings of our state consumer protection research also are summarized in a report and a legal issue brief: A clear understanding of consumer protection rights and the sources of their legal authority will guide policymakers and advocates for children’s health who seek to curb these practices without the need for new legislation and regulatory measures. This research was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research Program (#66968).

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