CBS Blames TV for Making Kids 'Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs'

Photo of Julia A. Seymour.

Eating up calls for more regulation, CBS "Evening News" attacked kid's cereal makers for television advertising in last night's broadcast.

The nanny-staters were at it again, warning on March 28 that children who like sugary cereals are "setting off alarms." Really? Is it any sort of surprise that children prefer sweet cereals to bran flakes? It doesn't surprise me, I still hate bran flakes.

Bill Whitaker's brought on Susan Linn "one of a chorus of critics calling for the government to ban the ads," but Whitaker didn't mention that Linn is the co-founder of the liberal Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Linn declared that "self-regulation has failed."

Parental responsibility for what people let their children watch or eat was completely left out of Whitaker's report, and no companies were mentioned by name or interviewed for comment.


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I eat Malt-O-Meal cereal as l

I eat Malt-O-Meal cereal as late nite "munchies" and love them. My 2 year old daughter has never seen a cereal TV add and loves to munch on "daddy's cereal."

If she were serious about banning advertising, she should tackle the issue of cereal companies marketing to the parents to buy the cereal with "LESS SUGAR" in big print on the boxes! My wife bought a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for our daughter rather than the cheaper Malt-O-Meals just because is said "Reduced Sugar" Yep......that little ad pinched my wallet.....

Or you could do the grocery

Or you could do the grocery shopping.

I was there, we were shopping

I was there, we were shopping as a family. You know the rules, the Wife always wins the argument in public :)

update: the wife claims she h

update: the wife claims she had a coupon for it, then adds: "plus it was lower in sugar!" proving my point again.

I eat cereal for snack before bed too...

I eat cereal for snack before bed too...  This is SO bogus.  When are these NAZIS going to relax let people take so "measured risks"?  For cryin out loud, we have lawyers all over place as it is.  We don't MORE regulation on such a trivial product.  How about regulating the MSM so isn't so God Aweful biased?  That might lower my blood pressure...  Telling me everything is bad for me and much of something I should be ALLOWED (there goes that free country thing..) to have.  BFS.  I honestly think these people have mental issues and have to be in control, or FEEL in control of at least everybody around them at all times.  Disgusting.

Sure, I watch the MSM... Through a pair of crosshairs.

One thing they'll never point

One thing they'll never point out is that ounce for ounce, sweetened and unsweetened cereals have the same number of calories (they're all carbohydrates). Just checked, a one cup serving of Cheerios has 111 calories. A 1.25 cup serving of Fruit Loops has 120.

Forget the Total, give me Capt'n Crunch and a multi-vitamin!

More people die in automobile

More people die in automobile accidents than from sugar-laden cereal each year.  Why not ban TV ads for new cars?

I don't know about anyone els

I don't know about anyone else's kids, but I am the one that purchases ALL of the food they eat. My kids eat what I put in front of them or they don't eat at all. I think self-regulation is working just fine. We just have a bunch of parents in this country that buy everything their kids want to eat rather than making sure they eat a well balanced diet. My kids eat sugary cereals on occasion, but they also eat vegetables and protein and other healthy foods every day. More than anything, exercise makes the biggest difference. If kids (or adults) sit on their rears all day they will grow fat regardless of what types of food they are eating. Send the kids outside, encourage them to play outside and to help out around the house...not only will they get exercise, they will build character and will be better prepared to take on additional responsibilities as they near adulthood.

"There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear." --General George S. Patton, Jr.

Why, you're MEAN, Gene!

Why, you're MEAN, Gene! 

Here's a funny story about kids eating what you put in front of them:  My son's friend would eat supper with us occasionally, and one night I served broccoli.  He said "I don't eat that."  I replied mildly, "In our house everyone eats whatever they are given."  He ate it without another word. 

But that's not the funny part:  A few years later, his dad and I were talking about food and he mentioned that his son wouldn't eat broccoli.  I enjoyed telling him that Brenton had been eating broccoli at my house for a couple of years...  ;^> 

That's why they call me MEAN!

That's why they call me MEAN!

I've had similar experiences in my home...isn't it great? My kid's friends that are otherwise unruly/disrespectful to their own parents miraculously behave themselves and show proper respect when they are visiting my house.

You can't start too early teaching kids responsibility and respect. Heck, my two-year-old already understands that when she is done eating (everything on her plate), she clears her dishes and puts them in the dishwasher. Both my girls respond with "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am" (and sometimes "as you wish" á la The Princess Bride) when they are addressed/given instruction by adults.

Next to unconditional love, discipline is the single greatest things we can instill in our children.

"There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear." --General George S. Patton, Jr.

Please Mommie government, help help !

Please Mommie government I promise to never let my rowdie kiddies force me into buying them sugary cereal on your Link foodcard, ever, ever again if youonly make sure those terrible commercials are banned.

 I won't turn off my TV because The View and Oprah are America's shows, and I shouldn't have to reach for the remote every second someevil cereal company wants to hyper up my kids with their sugar and deadly corn syrup products. Please, please help me government Mommie.

Enough of the government in o

Enough of the government in our business already...

I am so past fed up!

BT,OK, just as long as your n

BT,

OK, just as long as your not being fed up with those world-threatening sugary cereals... :)

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Afternoon Chris...Not I!No sw

Afternoon Chris...

Not I!

No sweet tooth whatsoever...to bad I can't say the same for my other half!

LOL!

No sweet tooth here, either.

No sweet tooth here, either. Which is hardly surprising, as I used to own three bakeries. If that isn't enough to kill a sweet tooth, then nothing will...

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Whats next legislate that sup

Whats next legislate that super markets must keep the sugary cerals at least 6 feet off the ground?
Did you ever notice all the sugary "kids" cereals are down low for the kids to stare at??
What happened to this generation or parents?
Whats next no dodge-ball in schools or a ban on booooing at school sporting events...lol.
LOL because this has happened is some schools thanks to the looney libs.

Nick...You got this all wrong

Nick...

You got this all wrong. Leave the sugary stuff on the lower shelves and mandate taller kids ;- )

The liberal MSM has become an enemy of the USA.

Leftists have repeatedly made

Leftists have repeatedly made it plain that they do NOT acknowledge the concept of freewill.
Or, in this case, the freewill of the parents to decide what is best for children.
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

Leftists have repeatedly made

Leftists have repeatedly made it plain that they do NOT acknowledge the concept of freewill.
Or, in this case, the freewill of the parents to decide what is best for children.
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

I'm surprised you don't LOVE

I'm surprised you don't LOVE Jimmy Carter. Carter wanted to abandon South Korea to the North during his term due to its poor human rights record (never mind the North's poor human rights record...all the while lavishing praise on the Shah of Iran for his poor human rights record. Oh yes, and in October 1979, Carter openly pondered the possibility that admitting the deposed Shah to the United States for medical treatment might so inflame Iranian public opinion that it would put the embassy in Tehran in danger. Then, when the embassy WAS taken hostage, he did nothing for 444 days...and executed the ill-fated Eagle Claw when forced by public opinion. 

Not to mention such courageous acts as turning his back on the Panama Canal. 

In short, Carter wanted the United States to be the whiny, toothless, powerless Nanny State you so badly want.

Bush, of course, would rather have ME keep more of my money with which to power the economy, and doesn't want the United States to be as much as looked at wrong by the rest of the world.  THAT infuriates you. 

"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

That Leftist I was responding

That Leftist I was responding to is such a chicken he decided to delete his post!
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

I recently read an article co

I recently read an article concerning chocolate which concluded that cocoa may lighten the load on one's arteries.

JDW

Wounded skier, beware of mistakes.

News media: Scoreboard for terrorists

Trial Lawyers

Memo To Trial Lawyers

Let's make TV Networks (e.g. CBS, NBC and ABC) directly responsible for the damage from these vicious and hurtful products. If someone dies from diabetes, clearly that was from too much Coca Puffs. Let us sue the enablers of this filth, namely CBS, ABC and NBC who in their merciless drive for profits are ruining our planet.

(Do I have the leftist logic down yet guys?)

Well, this is one rabbit who

Well, this is one rabbit who will never give up on his sugar-laden cereal no matter how many alarms are set off.

Liberal: a power worshipper without power. George Orwell

And this from the same people

And this from the same people who will tell you that the lurid sex scenes, the glorification of crime and the random violence shown on TV these days has no affect on children because it's only art and a reflection of reality anyway.  I believe that the left side of these person's brains never fully developed.  They are totally illogical.

I love the fact that the netw

I love the fact that the networks, whose money for running their garbage comes from ads for cereal, are whining about it.  I bet their advertising department got a few calls from cereal manufacturers about that.