Parents and advocacy groups plan to file suit against Viacom and Kellogg to stop them from marketing junk food to young children.
The plaintiffs said that the companies are "directly harming kids' health" because most of the food products targeted to children are high in sugar, saturated and trans fat, or salt, or almost devoid of nutrients.
They will ask a Massachusetts court to enjoin the companies from marketing junk foods to audiences where 15% or more of the audience is under age eight, and to cease marketing junk foods through Web sites, toy giveaways, contests, and other techniques aimed at that age group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said yesterday.
The CSPI, the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and two Massachusetts parents, Sherri Carlson of Wakefield and Andrew Leong of Brookline are plaintiffs in the case. Massachusetts' consumer protection law requires 30 days' notice of such a lawsuit, which the plaintiffs served on the defendants yesterday, CSPI said.
"Nickelodeon and Kellogg engage in business practices that literally sicken our children," said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson, in a statement "Their marketing tactics are designed to convince kids that everything they hear from their parents about food is wrong. It's a multimedia brainwashing and re-education campaign— a disease-promoting one at that. And parents are fed up."
Officials at Kellogg could not be reached for comment by press time.
The challenge comes just after a December report from the Institute of Medicine concluded that food and beverage marketing to children under 12 leads them to ask for and eat more foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value. The committee preparing the report stopped short of saying that TV ads are a direct cause of the epidemic of obesity in children, but said that the connection is strong. The committee called for government legislation if self-regulation should fail (Xtra Dec. 7).
Parents are also making their voices heard in a lawsuit, expected to be filed any day in Massachusetts against Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola that claims that the companies use caffeine in their beverages to get kids hooked on products that are dangerous because of their empty calories, among other charges. Heading the effort are a number of attorneys who made their mark by successfully fighting tobacco companies with class action lawsuits. Also involved is the Center for Science in the Public Interest (Xtra Dec. 1).
This past fall, CSPI analyzed food advertising on Nickelodeon's televised programming and in Nickelodeon magazine and marketing on food packaging that bears Nickelodeon characters. CSPI also analyzed Kellogg's Saturday-morning television advertisements, ads in kid-targeted magazines, on-package marketing, and other media. Nickelodeon's programming is aimed at kids aged 2 to 11, according to company documents, and the Nick Jr. block of programming is aimed at kids aged 2 to 5, CSPI said.
Of 168 ads for food that appeared on Nickelodeon during CSPI's review, 88% were for foods of poor nutritional quality. The September and October issues of Nickelodeon magazine contained seven full-page food ads, all of which were for junk foods. Of 15 foods bearing Nickelodeon characters at a Washington, DC, supermarket, 60% were junk foods, including Fairly Odd Parents Orange & Creme Miniatures Kit Kat bars and SpongeBob SquarePants Wild Bubble Berry Pop-Tarts.
CSPI also reviewed 27.5 hours of Saturday-morning programming to analyze Kellogg marketing. CSPI found 54 Kellogg ads, 98% of which were for nutritionally poor foods. Of 80 Kellogg foods found in the supermarket with kid-friendly on-package marketing, 84% were for nutritionally poor foods. CSPI found 21 kid-friendly web sites for Kellogg products, all of which highlighted junk foods. And of 92 child-oriented branded items Kellogg had for sale on the web, 82% had a logo or mascot from a junk-food brand, CSPI said
"The thrust of Nickelodeon's and Kellogg's likely defense will be to blame parents, since, after all, parents ultimately are responsible for their kids' diets," said CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. "But then again, Kellogg and Nick aren't directing their marketing messages at parents; they're going right behind parents' backs. Parents are ultimately responsible for making sure their young kids don't get hit by cars. But if someone's recklessly driving around your neighborhood at 80 miles an hour, you're going to want to stop them."
The Massachusetts statute the plaintiffs are suing under provides for damages of $25 per violation of unfair or deceptive advertising. In this case, a violation would be occur each time that a Massachusetts child sees an ad for a junk food on Nickelodeon, sees a Kellogg junk-food ad on that or another network, or sees Kellogg junk-food packaging that bears SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, or other cartoon characters. If the companies go to trial and are found liable, the verdict could be in the billions of dollars, but CSPI's attorneys say the plaintiffs would settle for a commitment from the companies to change their marketing practices, CSPI said.
