Kellogg announces major shift in marketing manufactured food products to children

Monday, September 24, 2007 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: Kellogg Company, Breakfast cereals, food marketing

(NewsTarget) Multinational snack and cereal producer Kellogg Company has announced that it will adopt nutrition standards for all products that it markets to children. All such products will either be reformulated to meet the new standards or will no longer be marketed to that demographic. All new Kellogg's products developed must also meet the guidelines if they are to be marketed to children under 12.

The new policy joins Kellogg's previously existing policy of not marketing to children younger than six.

Under the new guidelines, all products marketed to children under the age of 12 must contain a maximum of 200 calories, 2 grams of saturated fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 12 grams of labeled sugar and 0 grams of labeled trans fat per serving.

U.S. federal guidelines do not require the labeling of all sugars or trans fats.

Currently, 50 percent of Kellogg products marketed to children fail to meet the new criteria. Implementation will begin immediately, and will be complete by the end of 2008.

The company said that its new policy sets "a new standard of responsibility" for the industry.

In response to the move from Kellogg, the consumer groups Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood announced they were dropping plans to sue Kellogg and Viacom for their marketing practices. Viacom is the parent company of Nickelodeon, a television network geared toward children.

According to Michael Jacobson, executive director of CSPI, Kellogg has now "vaulted over the rest of the food industry" in addressing concerns over marketing to children.

Twenty-seven percent of Kellogg's U.S. advertising budget goes to marketing to children under the age of 12, according to Kellogg CEO David McKay. This includes print, radio, television and Internet ads, licensed properties, promotions and web site activities, product placement and in-school marketing.