NY Times: Fighting Captain Crunch's 'Darker Side' Against 'Epidemic of Childhood Obesity'
William Neuman's New York Times story on the latest attack by the food and advertising police, “U.S. Seeks New Limits on Food Ads for Children,” which topped Friday’s Business section, was slanted (as most Times business stories are) against business and in favor of federal regulators.
Will Toucan Sam go the way of Joe Camel?
The federal government proposed sweeping new guidelines on Thursday that could push the food industry to overhaul how it advertises cereal, soda pop, snacks, restaurant meals and other foods to children.
Citing an epidemic of childhood obesity, regulators are taking aim at a range of tactics used to market foods high in sugar, fat or salt to children, including the use of cartoon characters like Toucan Sam, the brightly colored Froot Loops pitchman, who appears in television commercials and online games as well as on cereal boxes.
Regulators are asking food makers and restaurant companies to make a choice: make your products healthier or stop advertising them to youngsters.
“Toucan Sam can sell healthy food or junk food,” said Dale Kunkel, a communications professor at the University of Arizona who studies the marketing of children’s food. “This forces Toucan Sam to be associated with healthier products.”
Neuman admitted “The guidelines are meant to be voluntary, but companies are likely to face heavy pressure to adopt them.”
While quoting Kelloggs and lobbying groups opposed to additional anti-child-marketing regulations on top of the ones already in place, the Times avoided a single philosophical argument for consumer choice and free speech, which National Public Radio at least provided in its own slanted story, bringing on David Boaz of the libertarian Cato Institute. It’s a strange omission for the New York Times Co., which relies on free speech protections to complete its news-gathering mission.
Then there’s this silly melodramatic sentence:
By explicitly tying advertising to childhood obesity, the government is suggesting there is a darker side to cuddly figures like Cap’n Crunch, the Keebler elves, Ronald McDonald and the movie and television characters used to promote food. It also raises the question of whether they might ultimately share the fate of Joe Camel, the cartoon figure used to promote Camel cigarettes that was phased out amid allegations that it was meant to entice children to smoke.
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Comments
Let me get this straight. The
Submitted by Chris Norman on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 10:49pm.
Let me get this straight. The little kids see the "cute and cuddly" cartoon characters advertising high sugar food and go to the grocery store and buy the products themselves? And the parents figure into this - how? Wow, there is no problem out there that the "we know best for you idiots" crowd have a government mandated "solution" that completely bypasses the role of parental responsibility. And the "Government must do something about this problem" media will cheer them on. What these pathological "do-gooder" busybodies really want to do is mandate and control what people do - period. Everything else they propose are merely interim baby steps to their final goals.
Consider this.....
Submitted by Timothy H on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 7:27pm.
If their argument that putting these cartoon characters on the box is causing childhood obesity, then aren't these same idiots liable because they haven't forced regulation to put cute and cuddly cartoon characters on boxes of Grape Nuts, Special K, Total and plain old Shredded Wheat?
I mean, if the Cartoon Characters have that much sway, then why aren't they used to promote healthier choices? Because it's hogwash. And the fact that they haven't tried to forcce implementation of this "powerful" tool means that they know they are full of feces right up to the eyeballs.
Parents are ultimately responsible, not Cap'n Crunch.
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe. -Albert Einstein
And for blonde:Some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraint. -Timothy H
Timothy
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 10:27pm.
I like the way you think. Yeah, the "healthy" cereals have box graphics that make them look like they contain antibiotics.
Look who's back!
Submitted by Blonde on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 10:47pm.
And I must say, in rather good form, too!
Spot on, Timothy.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
SILENCE!! The Great and Powerful Oz Speaks!!!
Submitted by MidAmerica on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 10:55pm.
This is just one more step in total control over the individual. Sugary cerials are much older than the so-called obesity problem. I grew up in the sixties and nobody I knew drank a diet soda or gave up surgary cerials, candy bars, hamburgers/french fries.. But even so an obese person was unusual. The real problem is kids today do not excercise the way they used to. My parents wouldn't let me and my brothers lay around. We had to get out of the house and go do something such as play baseball with the neighbor kids.
Mid
Submitted by Chris Norman on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:09pm.
It's probably because of the threatening world we live in, but I rarely, if ever, see kids playing in their front yards with the kids down the street. I realize it's a generational thing, but what a shame. On my street, after we walked home from school, we played Hide and Seek, soft ball (home plate being the storm drain cover), Red Rover, Tag, and Touch Football (my mom hated the grass stains I'd get on my pants). Forget the childhood obesity "crisis" - I'm feeling really, really old about now....
mommy I'm scared...
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 6:52am.
I'm not sure the world is that much more dangerous than before but the kids we raise now are so coddled (even high schoolers) that they cannot be trusted to fend for themselves. Boys especially are so feminized that they no longer do the stuff that boys used to do like setting up ball games on their own or bike around town. Now kids just work their social networking sources and lay around. So it's laughable that the government is going to do anything about obesity by going after Kapn Crunch.
When i was 8 or 9 years old I used to climb the huge maple tree in our front yard (so did other boys) to heights where falling could be certain death or major injury and you know what my mother would say........ nothing. She just looked at this as just boys growing up to be men. Men were expected to be brave, strong and self reliant. Now the nanny state thinks dodge ball is too violent.
Well said, MidAmerica
Submitted by Timothy H on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 7:30pm.
Clap, Clap, Clap.......
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe. -Albert Einstein
And for blonde:Some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraint. -Timothy H
Memories...
Submitted by Rukus on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 11:14am.
I remember growing up in Fairhope AL. Lord, we used to leave on Saturday morning and not come home but for lunch. Then, at dark, all the mom's on the block would come out and holler for the kids to come home and wash up and eat. Those were the days, I sure miss them. Can't let the kids just go off now a-days, too dangerous. What's happened to our great land? I wish we could go back to the 50's and 60's, much better times... sigh. : (
Chris, I'm only 37.......
Submitted by Timothy H on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 7:36pm.
And it was the same way when I was a teenager in the late 80's and early 90's. I left int he morning, stopped off to grab some lunch (if I didn't eat at a friends house) and then came home just before the street lights came on. We played stickball, football, hockey, hide and seek, basketball, rode our bikes, went swimming, ran away from girls when we were younger and chased them when we got a bit older. And we were fit. My parents never let us lay around the house, and I can hardly tell you what was on the tube in the 80's. They made good choices about what and how much they fed us.
But then, the government wasn't giving my parents an excuse to blame Ronald McDonald and The Trix Rabbit for their own failed parenting, so they actually had to parent. Imagine that.....
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe. -Albert Einstein
And for blonde:Some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraint. -Timothy H
Personally speaking…
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:02pm.
....I’m all in favor (not flavor) of laws preventing children under 18 from eating chili cheese burgers w/bacon…
Oh! What a wonderful world it could be!
-Grump :o)
Have no doubt,
Submitted by Chris Norman on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:11pm.
Your satirical joke of today will be a serious proposal from some liberal group in the future.
Who said it was satire...
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:30pm.
I’m a firm believer that chili is the cause for global warming… and is the single greatest threat to mankind’s survival!
But: They will have to pry the last spoonful of chili out of my cold cholesterol infected hands before I give in!
- Grump :o)
Methane?
Submitted by Chris Norman on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:32pm.
Methane?
A renewable resource…
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:39pm.
If I’m not mistaken.
- Grump :o)
Another meddlesome leftists
Submitted by rbosque on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:41pm.
Another meddlesome leftists trying to dictate to us how to run our lives. They're trying to ram their beliefs down our throats even if it means making up laws.
It's none of their damned business!
This is what democrats and
Submitted by Slyrr on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:54pm.
This is what democrats and leftists have fallen to.
They see no threats from radical Islam. They don't think Iran, or China or any other country trying to destroy us is anything to worry about. They don't care that they've created a 14 trillion dollar debt monster that's threatening this country and every man, woman and child in it - along with the unborn for generations.
No - all the liberals, democrats and leftists care about is destroying a cartoon character. Yes - 'Cap'n Crunch'. THIS is what liberals are scared of.
Think of that. Liberals are more scared of breakfast cereals and their cartoon mascots than they are of terrorist jihadists with nukes. Cap'n Crunch and the Trix Rabbit are the deadly enemies that keep the modern liberal up at night cringing beneath their bedcovers.
Leave Cap'n Crunch Alooooonne!
Submitted by jefflebowski on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 11:59pm.
I like Cap'n Crunch. I like crunchberries. Is that so wrong? I don't like Obama. I don't like Democrats.
Angry White Dude
www.angrywhitedude.com
COUNT CHOCULA AND TONY THE TIGER IN '12.
Submitted by Herbster on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 12:29am.
The food police are after us again. No more salt, foie gras, trans fats, etc. Question: If trans fats are banned, can Rosie O'Donnell legally enter a restaurant? Just asking.
Everything is "Voluntary" to start....soon to be followed by "Required." Have we learned nothing these past years of how the commucrats operate?
Any restaurant that lists calories, fat content, sodium content, etc. on their menu will NOT have me as a customer.
Remember, triple bacon cheeseburgers don't kill people - people kill people!
Michell Obama Proposes Slaughtering Obese Children!
Submitted by HollyW on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 2:46am.
According to the Daily Rash, last year Michelle Obama considered slaughtering morbidly obese children! That may be going too far! http://www.thedailyrash.com/?p=2270
Childhood Obesity Epidemic
Submitted by Phryj1 on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 2:54am.
Straight out of the liberal nanny state playbook. Declare something a serious problem that we absolutely need the government to deal with to justify giving the gov't more control over people. They did the same thing with global warming.
It's not even a problem! They're kids, so most of them will outgrow their obesity. Besides that, it's the parents' business what their kids eat, not the governments! Not to mention, but the main cause behind kids being overweight is lack of physical activity, not diet.
You know, it seems to me like these psychotic anti-childhood obesity crusaders are really all about sucking all the fun out of kids' lives. Getting them ready for their gray, bleak, boring, freedomless lives in the gray, bleak, boring, oppressive nanny state utopia that the progressives all dream of.
Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.
Cap'n Crunch's "darker side" is NOT the sugar
Submitted by mrt721 on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 10:55am.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOyu5x7QCMU
Let's see if I've got this right...
Submitted by Mary Louise Turner on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 3:53pm.
Let's see if I've got this right. According to our nanny state busybodies, it's not OK for children to eat Frosted Flakes or Cap'n Crunch or drink Coke, but it's perfectly all right for them to watch pornography at the local library?! They would rather kill our children's souls and minds in order to defend so-called "free speech"...
America is becoming more tyrannical as each hour passes
Submitted by Dave. on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 8:42pm.
Just when the Hell is Boehner & Co. going to start ripping the financial guts out of these unneeded, tyrannical bureaucracies and send these freedom-hating control-freak goobers packing for good?
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
So
Submitted by TxTarp on Sun, 05/01/2011 - 1:22pm.
How often do small children go to a supermarket to buy groceries by themselves? I never realized that children made money, or planned family meals. Yes, me must regulate these children's food intake, because they are not old enough or smart enough to know what is healthy and what is not. Oh, and those pesky parents dont know any better either.......