“House Republicans are siding with food companies resisting the Obama administration’s efforts to pressure them to stop advertising junk food for children,” writes Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick in a July 6, 2011, article examining the efforts of individual legislators to stymie proposed Federal Trade Commission (FTC) food marketing guidelines. According to Jalonick, while food companies have lobbied “aggressively” against the proposal, Republican representatives have sought to include a provision in next year’s FTC budget “that would require the government to study the potential costs and impacts of the guidelines before implementing them.” As Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) explained, the guidelines might otherwise “lead to extraordinary pressure from the federal government” on those who do not conform to the voluntary measure. But consumer advocates like the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) have disputed this reasoning. “The industry is exaggerating the influence of these voluntary regulations to gin…
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The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report recommending that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) improve its enforcement of the Children’s Television Act (CTA) of 1990, which restricts advertising during children’s programs, requires a certain amount of informational/educational programming as a condition of broadcast license renewals and prohibits the use of program characters in advertising during any program for children younger than age 12. On the basis of its review of FCC data, interviews with FCC and broadcast station officials and focus groups with parents, GAO expressed concerns about the agency’s lack of specific standards to assess informational (or “core children’s”) programming. The report also found that most self-reported violations involved broadcasters exceeding advertising time limits. According to the report, core children’s programming on commercial broadcast stations “increased significantly” from 1998 to 2010, along with cable and satellite providers—“to which core children’s programming requirements do not apply—increasing the number…
Calling for the food industry to put voluntary nutrition labeling initiatives on hold, Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Childhood Obesity, has co-authored an opinion piece about front-of-package nutrition labeling in The New England Journal of Medicine. Among other matters, the article recommends that industry leaders await an Institute of Medicine report with nutrition labeling recommendations due for release this fall. Brownell suggests that the nutrition keys system under development by the industry may confuse consumers by “including so many symbols” and allowing companies the discretion to change the nutrients listed. According to the article, “The most notable deficiency of the industry system is its lack of a science-based, easily understood way to show consumers whether foods have a high, medium, or low amount of a particular nutrient.” Brownell contends that the traffic-light system used in Great Britain is much clearer. See NEJM, June 23,…
A federal judge in California has refused to dismiss proposed class actions alleging that Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers ice cream products were falsely advertised as all natural. Astiana v. Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., No. 10-4387 (N.D. Cal., decided May 26, 2011); Thurston v. Conopco, Inc., No. 10-4937 (N.D. Cal., decided May 26, 2011). Filed after the Center for Science in the Public Interest drew attention to the issue, the complaints argue that two units owned by Unilever PLC “misrepresented ice cream containing ‘Dutch’ or ‘alkalized cocoa’ as ‘all natural’” even though the ingredient is purportedly processed with synthetic potassium carbonate. The defendants had sought to dismiss both actions on the grounds that plaintiffs did not demonstrate an injury resulting from the “all natural” claim and could have easily applied for a refund if dissatisfied. Noting that plaintiffs may very well “have no actionable claims,” the court reasoned that, “If…
An administrative law judge has apparently begun hearing a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint alleging that POM Wonderful LLC makes false and unsubstantiated claims that its pomegranate juice products will prevent or treat “heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction.” According to a news source, the government opened its case by asserting that the studies on which the company relied do not support the marketing claims and that its executives “repeatedly ignored warning signs that the marketing didn’t match the science.” Food and beverage companies and advertisers are reportedly watching the dispute closely; if the agency prevails, the companies will have to support their advertising with more scientific evidence. POM contends that its product claims are supported by $35 million in research and that the company has “sponsored or participated in more than 90 scientific investigations with over 65 studies on POM products, including 17 clinical trials.” POM will also…
An Advertising Age article discusses recent litigation filed by parents against Facebook® alleging that the social network has used names and/or likenesses of their children in product endorsements without obtaining parental consent. While no child younger than age 13 is supposed to be able to set up a Facebook® account, Consumer Reports estimates that some 7.5 million of these children have such accounts, with an additional 14.4 million users between ages 13 and 17. When they click a “like” button for a product, such as a food or beverage, no mechanism is apparently available to limit how the children’s images and preferences are then used for advertising purposes on the Internet. According to the article, a large part of the social network’s advertising strategy is to turn users’ “likes” into advertisements showing the users’ names and images. Legal experts are reportedly unsure whether this strategy is legal, even when adults’…
Attorneys general (AGs) from 23 states and Guam have submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to its proposed collection of information from alcohol advertisers. The information relates to “compliance with voluntary advertising placement provisions, sales and marketing expenditures, the status of third-party review of complaints regarding compliance with voluntary advertising codes, and alcohol industry data collection practices.” Agreeing that the information collection is in the public interest, the AGs recommend that FTC “seek advertising and promotional expenditure data on an ongoing and regular basis, not just intermittently.” They also urge FTC “to encourage the alcohol industry to move to a standard limiting advertising to media where no more than 15% of the audience is between the ages of 12 and 20.” The April 26, 2011, comment further calls for FTC to “include a brand analysis in its coming report,” noting that these beverages are marketed by…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its proposed voluntary principles for marketing food to children in an effort to encourage “stronger and more meaningful self-regulation by the food industry.” Designed by an FTC-led interagency working group with input from the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Agriculture, the guidelines seek “to improve the nutritional profiles of foods marketed directly to children ages 2-17 and to tap into the power of advertising and marketing to support healthful choices.” To this end, the preliminary standards would require that, by 2016, all products marketed to this age group (i) “make a meaningful contribution to a healthful diet” and (ii) “contain limited amounts of nutrients that have a negative impact on health or weight (saturated fats, trans fat, added sugars, and sodium).” To meet the first principle, marketed foods must feature “at least one of…
An April 21, 2011, New York Times article targets the online marketing techniques allegedly used by food companies “to build deep ties with young consumers,” claiming that “multimedia games, online quizzes and cellphone apps” have become “part of children’s daily digital journeys, often flying under the radar of parents and policy makers.” The Times highlights the efforts of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Childhood Obesity, which have backed strict regulation in lieu of the current voluntary measures. “Food marketers have tried to reach children since the age of the carnival barker, but they’ve never had so much access to them and never been able to bypass parents so successfully,” said CCFC Director Susan Linn. According to the article, the groups have called for rules similar to those governing children’s TV that require “a buffer between ads and programs so that…
McDonald’s Corp. has filed a motion to dismiss a putative class action seeking to stop the company from advertising and selling to children its allegedly “unhealthy Happy Meals” with toys. Parham v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 11-00511 (N.D. Cal., motion filed April 18, 2011). Details about the lawsuit appear in Issue 375 of this Update. The company contends that the plaintiff lacks standing to sue under the unfair competition law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act or false advertising law and argues that the complaint is the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s “attempt to distort state consumer protection law beyond recognition” to stop McDonald’s from selling Happy Meals containing toys in California. According to the motion, the plaintiff does not allege physical harm, reliance on the company’s advertising (that is, “Plaintiff does not allege that her own children saw any particular advertisement or made a single purchase from McDonald’s”), or identify…
