Posts Tagged ‘Target: Children’
How To Create An Obese, Sugar-Addicted Child
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
According to CBC News, new findings from Yale University show, “…that cereals marketed directly to children have 85 per cent more sugar, 65 per cent less fibre and 60 per cent more sodium than cereals marketed to adults.”
It could be easy to dismiss these finding as a blatant statement of the most obvious facts, but I think it’s extremely helpful to get the raw numbers laid out like this. Maybe people will start to wake up and realize the garbage they are feeding their children.
It can also be easy to push back and dismiss these findings saying, “Come on, sugary cereal is just a part of growing up.” However, scientists recently demonstrated, getting hooked on sugary foods can permanently alter your taste buds. I am certain that had I not been raised on Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispes with a cup of sugar poured on top, I would probably would not have grown up to make cookies and cream milk shakes that filled the entire blender several times a day. And, if that were the case, I also probably would not have ended up with a crazy roller coaster weight problem.
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
Soda, Does A Body Good!
Friday, August 28th, 2009
Once upon a time in a land called America, there was a huge money making crop known as tobacco. Its producers knew it created all kinds of diseases, but also knew if they paid the right people the right amount of money they would be able to keep selling their evil medicine for years to come. So tobacco propaganda spread throughout the entire land. They convinced Americans smoking was so healthy that children should start early. One company even featured a little boy smoking a pipe in their ad campaigns. But the American public eventually caught on and their children’s marketing went undercover. Rugged cowboys and cool camels enticed imaginative boys to picture themselves smoking when they grew up.
Just then, tobacco’s little brother soda started playing copycat and convinced Americans to get their kids drinking soda early. They also knew their products weren’t healthy, but saw the dollar signs and started to spread their message.
One add read, “How soon is too soon? Not soon enough. Laboratory tests over the past few years have proven that babies who start drinking soda during that early formative period have a much higher chance of gaining acceptance and ‘fitting in’ during those awkward pre-teen and teen years. So do yourself a favor. Do your child a favor. Start them on a strict regimen of sodas and other sugary carbonated beverages right now, for a lifetime of guaranteed happiness.”
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Sugar Addiction | 1 Comment »
Childhood Obesity = Child Abuse?
Saturday, August 8th, 2009
A South Carolina mother named Jerri Gray was recently arrested and charged with criminal neglect when her son reached 555 pounds at 14 years old.
I generally tend to agree with Ron Jones, who is quoted in the story as saying, “If you gave your child a drug, you’d be held in the court. But if you kill them with food, that seems to be acceptable.” However, I would like to know the person’s income level before I jump fully on board with the prosecution.
Obesity statistics fall largely along economic lines. Poor people tend to be heavier because they can only afford to eat processed garbage. If the government would stop subsidizing junk food, it would help to stop this problem, but that is going to take time.
It also strikes me that this woman is an African American living in South Carolina. I’m curious to know if they would ever think to arrest a white woman in their town for the same alleged crime.
So, while it’s certainly time to get people to take responsibility for what they feed their children, it seems to me that this will create a precedent that could bring further injustice to the poor.
Here is the USA Today story, what are your thoughts?
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Legislation, Public Policy | No Comments »
Nesquik = Happiness, aahhhh :)
Saturday, June 6th, 2009
Thousands of years ago, Aristotle pondered the meaning of happiness in his Nicomachean Ethics. He wrote, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” If only he would have had Nesquik because it turns out that, “Happiness is as easy as Nesquik.”
In fact, it’s so easy that all you have to do is go to their web site where “Happiness Is Reserved For You.” Just click on “Find It” and all of you life’s problems will be solved…until you click on the “Health & Nutrition” tab on the next page.
Granted, 3 Musketeers set the bar for absurd health claims in a sugar laden product’s ad pretty high yesterday, but not to be outdone Nesquik’s site proclaims, “Healthy Lifestyles and Chocolate Milk Go Great Together.”
Listed on the same page as that fantastically contrary quote, you can find recipes for Amaretto Fudge Cappuccino, Roxanne C.’s Banana Split Hot Cocoa, Chocolate Banana Cream Pie, & NESQUIK Neapolitan Pound Cake just to name a few.
It’s great to see such benevolence and concern for my health from this fine corporation. I suppose the best thing to do now is buy as many of their products as possible and encourage my family to do likewise. After all, they clearly care about you AND your children.
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Diabetes, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
The Sugar Monster
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
I recently came across a great web site dedicated to teaching children how to eat healthy called TheSugarMonster.com
They have 20 episodes posted that range between 3 and 5 minutes long. Each show features the resident evil one, The Sugar Monster, encouraging children to eat as much candy and sugar as possible. When the kids decline his enticements, he explodes.
It’s entertaining, informative, and a great way to convince your kids to eat their fruit and veggies.
Tags: Freedom, Target: Children
Posted in Sugar Addiction, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Fueling Sugar Addiction, One Advertisement at a Time
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
The New York Times has reported that the masters of food marketing are back at it again. Noticing a growing distaste for anything made with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), they have decided to start using actual sugar and selling their products under deceptive titles like “natural” and “retro.”
I’m not sure where to start here. I understand the need for marketers to sell their products, but there is no room in the market place for blatant lies.
There is nothing “natural” about refined sugar. The process to create it is quite extensive and involves plenty of industrial machining and chemical crafting.
First, sucrose is extracted from sugar cane and sugar beets by heating them with a chemical compound known as Calcium Oxide. This creates a juice which is evaporated into 65% solids and becomes raw sugar. After that, the crystals are washed and stripped of color in beds of a carbon granule made from animal bones known as “bone char.” This produces a liquor, which is either partially evaporated into liquid sugar or dried to become the sugar you see in the store.
However, to argue which is better for you, HFCS or sugar, makes as much sense as arguing which will kill you faster, smoking cigarettes or smoking a pipe. Both are equally harmful as they both cause a spike in blood sugar, triggering an overdose of insulin, and resulting in excessive fat storage in your liver and other muscle tissue.
If you’d like a guaranteed prevention for diabetes Sugar Addiction, leave both HFCS and sugar out of your food completely.
Tags: Dead Wrong, Freedom, Target: Children
Posted in Diabetes, Food Marketing, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
Hi, My Name Is James And…
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
No surprise for me here, but according to Psychology Today, “…an affinity for sweets appears to be a marker for those at risk of developing alcoholism.”
“Lead author Alexei Kampov-Polevoy, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, recruited 163 college-age social drinkers…Participants with a paternal history of alcoholism were 2.5 times more likely to enjoy sweets.”
I say no surprise here because I’ve always found my body’s reaction to sugar is exactly the same as my body’s reaction to alcohol; one drink means five more and one cookie means the whole box. I grew up using Pixy Styx like drugs to stay up all night and then grew up only to find myself drinking and doing drugs all night.
So, watch your kids and see how they react to sugar. And if they react anything like I did as a child, get them off the stuff. You may just save them from a lifelong battle with much more serious “stuff.”
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
“Let The Children Come To Me”
Friday, September 19th, 2008
“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
I recently linked to a story by Peg Tyre from Newsweek which reported the unfortunate statistic that 1 in 5 American parents are worried about the mental health of their sons. The article asks why so many of our youngest boys are struggling emotionally. Tyre ponders, “…could some of those changes we have embraced in our families, our communities and our schools be driving our sons crazy?” She then goes on to theorize that overly structured schedules and excessively demanding academics could be to blame for the slumping feelings of many boys.
Tyre finally concludes, “But when nearly one in five boys has such serious behavioral and emotional issues that their parents are talking it over with their pediatrician, you can bet we are facing a problem that requires a more fundamental change in our society than medication or weekly therapy.”
I couldn’t agree more; however, I believe the issue we are facing here is even more fundamental than too many soccer games and math problems. In my estimation, the root cause of the emotional issues among the majority of children simply comes down to diet; specifically, you guessed it, the amount of sugar and other caloric sweeteners the average child consumes.
As I’ve often pointed out, the USDA reported the average American consumed 143 lbs. of caloric sweeteners in 2005. If we consider that 143 lbs. was just an average, and take into account the amount of sugar in one bowl of breakfast cereal, it’s not unreasonable to assume many kids could be consuming in excess of 170-180 lbs. of sugar and other sweeteners per year. That breaks down to just under ½ pound per day!
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Diabetes, Fast Food, Food Marketing, Sugar Addiction | 1 Comment »
Kiddie Cocaine
Monday, September 8th, 2008
The UK based Times Online recently reported, “Schoolchildren show addiction to caffeine.”.
As I’ve stated in the past, I don’t think legislation is the answer to this growing problem, but it’s definitely time to act.
“Children will drink them on the walk to school, at break and lunch time. If you have got a child who is worked up on an energy drink, they are going to be agitated during lesson time,” stated Bob Tait of Drugs Education UK.
330 millionliters of energy drinks were consumed in the UK last year alone. That’s equal to 87,176,777.3 gallons, or just over 145 Olympic size swimming pools worth of raw sugar and caffeine.
A Red Bull spokesperson is quoted in the article as stating they do not recommend their product for children; however, in comparing their approach to marketing, can any of us doubt there’s a little Joe Camel in those adorable little angles and their “wiiiings!!”?
Tags: Target: Children
Posted in Food Marketing, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
Junk Food Down Under
Friday, August 29th, 2008
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that, according to the Australian Food and Grocery Council, “a ban on food advertising during children’s television programs in Queensland would do little to combat childhood obesity.”
It’s good to see that inaccurate and one-sided health reporting is not just an American phenomena.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council is “the national body representing the nation’s food and grocery products manufacturers.” Given that, one would hope at least one opposing view would be quoted in the article. However, that is apparently asking far too much as Kate Carnell, chief executive of the Council, is the only source for the story.
Not surprisingly, she offers this vague non-statement on the issue, “We strongly believe that solutions to childhood obesity are more likely to be found when government, industry and other stakeholders work in concert.”
By their own admission, their goal is to, “help shape a business environment that encourages the food and grocery products industry to grow and remain profitable.” And, how could they possibly “grow and remain profitable” if we cut off their most easily influenced and mislead source of funding, our children?
As a result, we are forced to read absurd statements, such as, “Ms Carnell said that in 2007 the Australian Communications and Media Authority found food and beverage advertising contributed no more than two per cent of children’s choice of products.”
Well, I need to get in on that two percent because the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood reports, “In 2006, more than 80 different media programs were used to promote food to children through brand licensing or toy giveaways. That same year fast food restaurants sold more than 1.2 billion kids meals with toys.”
Yeah, it might be tough, but I’m pretty sure I could squeak by on the profits from 1.2 billion kids meals.
Tags: Dead Wrong, Target: Children
Posted in Food Marketing, Sugar Addiction | No Comments »
