The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has apparently proposed amending its advertising guidelines to hold companies and paid word-of-mouth marketers, including bloggers and those on social networking sites, liable for making false statements to promote products. According to an FTC spokesperson, the proposal would bring the commission up to speed with evolving marketing practices. “The commission is attempting to update guidelines that are 30 years old so that they address current marketing techniques and in particular to address the issue of whether or not the safe harbor that’s currently allowed for ‘result not typical’-type disclaimers is still warranted,” he was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, a public comment submitted by the American Association of Advertising Agencies has reportedly urged FTC to reconsider “overly stringent amendments that will likely result in advertisers abandoning longstanding legitimate advertising techniques, such as consumer testimonials, and rejecting new media forms, such as blogs and viral marketing.” The…
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The U.S. Food Policy blog has posted a response to the announcement that Disney Food, Health & Beauty would begin marketing a line of “farm fresh” eggs branded with a rotating cast of cartoon characters. According to Disney Food, the available products will include Large, Extra Large, 18-pack Large, Disney Cage Free, and Disney Organic eggs, all produced by hens raised without hormones, steroids or antibiotics and fed Eggland’s Best patented feed containing “healthy grains, canola oil, and an all-natural supplement of rice bran, alfalfa, sea kelp, and vitamin E.” But the marketing plan has drawn criticism from one blog contributor, who blamed the egg supplier for furthering “the agrarian myth that people’s food is coming from an idealistic farm with a red barn” and who questioned the motives behind Disney’s foray into food marketing. “I side with Marion Nestle on the point that kids don’t need special ‘kid-friendly’ foods…
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) has launched a letter-writing initiative to dissuade Burger King from using a “highly sexualized” television commercial to advertise its 99-cent SpongeBob Kids Meal. According to CCFC, the ad features Burger King’s mascot “singing a remix of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1990 hit song, ‘Baby Got Back,’ with the new lyrics, ‘I like square butts and I cannot lie,” intercut with images of Nickelodeon’s popular cartoon character dancing on a TV screen in the background. The consumer watchdog has also criticized Burger King for airing the commercial during the NCAA basketball finals. “It’s bad enough when companies use a beloved media character like SpongeBob to promote junk food to children, but it’s utterly reprehensible when that character simultaneously promotes objectified, sexualized images of women,” CCFC Director Susan Linn was quoted as saying. “That Burger King and Nickelodeon would sell kids meals by associating a beloved, male character…
In a move that has reportedly angered some industry representatives, the U.S. government has set up a working group to study how food is marketed to youth younger than age 18. Currently, food manufacturers are encouraged to abide by industry-imposed rules for food advertising to children younger than 12. The Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children was announced last week with President Barack Obama’s 2009 omnibus appropriations bill. The group will examine whether the government should set standards for determining which foods are healthy and appropriate to market to youth as old as 17. A Grocery Manufacturers Association spokesperson was quoted as saying, “This proposal is completely unnecessary. Taxpayer dollars and agency time could be made much better use of. Besides, the proposal—the way it is written—not only reinvents the wheel, it does so poorly with broad, misdirected language that goes far beyond marketing to children. Too far.”…
Since it was filed in 2002, the lawsuit filed by a putative class of teenagers alleging obesity-related injury purportedly caused by reliance on deceptive advertising for fast food has been appealed twice to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and is now before its third trial court judge. Pelman v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 02-7821 (S.D.N.Y., filed Sept. 30, 2002). The case was reassigned to Judge Kimba Wood on February 27, 2009. Judge Wood was one of former President Bill Clinton’s picks for attorney general, but withdrew from consideration after questions were raised about the immigrants she had hired as household help. Nominated to the federal court bench in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan, the Harvard-educated jurist has served as chief judge of her district since 2006.
Quebec courts have reportedly fined a snack cake manufacturer CAN$44,000 for violating the province’s Consumer Protection Act, which forbids marketing to children younger than age 13. Saputo Inc. pleaded guilty to 22 charges resulting from a complaint filed by anti-obesity advocate Coalition Poids and the Union des Consommateurs. The groups claimed that Saputo used a cartoon gorilla to promote its product in day care centers, hailing the decision as “a victory for children.” “The World Health Organization has identified junk-food advertising as one of the top five causes of the current obesity epidemic,” Coalition Poids Director Suzie Pellerin was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Quebec’s consumer protection agency has apparently verified similar complaints pending against Burger King and General Mills. Media sources have noted that the successful prosecution of Saputo could signal a shift in how Quebec enforces its unique marketing code. The last court case testing the Consumer Protection Act occurred…
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a voluntary standard that livestock producers can use to verify “naturally raised” marketing claims with USDA. The standard apparently took into account more than 44,000 public comments from consumers, veterinarians, trade and professional organizations, national organic associations, consumer, agriculture and animal advocates, and retail and meat companies. AMS concurred with the majority of comments requesting “that the three core criteria proposed (animals raised without growth promotants and antibiotics and have never been fed mammalian or avian byproducts) should be a part of a naturally raised marketing claim standard,” but declined to further narrow the scope of the standard because the agency felt additional restriction would limit its usefulness. “A number of livestock producers make claims associated with production practices in order to distinguish their products in the marketplace,” according to AMS. “This voluntary standard will allow livestock producers to utilize AMS’ voluntary, third…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has criticized the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA’s) policy on alcohol marketing during sanctioned events, claiming that beer was the “second most-advertised product” in the Final Four basketball tournament. CSPI allegedly found that beer promotions constituted 12 percent of all advertisements during the Final Four, but only 6 percent of those featured during the Bowl Championship Series, where “beer was the seventh most-advertised product.” The consumer watchdog has purportedly sent a letter to NCAA President Myles Brands, reiterating its long-standing request for NCAA to prohibit all alcohol advertising during its games. In addition, CSPI noted that hundreds of college presidents, athletic directors and coaches last year petitioned the association to further restrict its alcohol marketing policies. “The NCAA lags far behind other organizations when it comes to protecting its young audience from beer ads,” stated CSPI’s George Hacker. See CSPI Press…
According to a news source, the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division, at the request of Dannon, has asked General Mills Inc. to change the way it advertises the purported digestive health benefits of its Yoplait Yo-Plus® yogurt. Dannon apparently contended that General Mills’ claims about its ingredients helping to “regulate digestive health naturally” were not scientifically sound, and the division agreed, saying the studies that General Mills submitted “are not sufficient to support a health-related product performance claim.” A General Mills spokesperson apparently responded that the company disagreed with the division’s findings, “but we respect the process and will take these recommendations into account.” See Product Liability Law 360, December 9, 2008.
Inquirer staff writer Tom Avril opens his piece by focusing on a nutritionist who advised consumers to drink orange juice as a boost to the immune system when Forbes.com wrote an article in 2007 about preventing colds and the flu and turned to her for a quote. Apparently, nutritionist Lisa Hark was being paid by the Florida orange industry to promote its product when she gave the advice. According to Avril, such corporate ties are not unusual, and he notes how the federal government formed a new 13-member panel this year to review dietary guidelines, including six members who “have received funding from the food or pharmaceutical industries.” Most of the article details Hark’s ties to other corporations and questions whether she was qualified to make some nutrition recommendations she provided on their behalf. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, is…
