A recent Washington Post article caught my interest: "Sweet Surrender," subtitled: Under Siege, Companies Begin Replacing Familiar Junk Food Pitches and Products.


The first paragraph is especially telling. "An industry that has been skewered repeatedly during the past decade–blamed for the super-sizing of millions of American children–is altering how it makes and markets snacks, beverages and other temptations of young consumers."
Altruistic? Hardly. As the article points out, "Motivated by the triple threat of bad publicity, tougher regulation and costly lawsuits, some of the country's biggest food companies have curtailed child-targeted advertising of certain high-calorie products." With growing obesity among our youth, and push-back from parents, educators and lawmakers, food companies have stepped back and reformulated many of their popular offerings. They've also taken a different stance on marketing them.
"Compared to where we were just two years ago, the progress has been epochal, huge. That fact that companies are agreeing to stop marketing their junkiest foods to the youngest people is incredible", Stephen Gardner of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stated. While the winds of change are beginning to blow, much more needs to be done. Still, we seem to be heading in a new direction.
Notable recent changes include:
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Some of our largest food companies, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hershey's and Mars have pledged to stop all forms of product advertising to kids under the age of 12.
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At least a dozen corporations have pledged through a Council of Better Business Bureau campaign that half of the advertising to kids aged 12 and under will promote healthier nutritional choices.
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Many snack manufacturers are offering and emphasizing "baked" rather than "fried" choices now.
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McDonald's Happy Meals can be purchased with sliced apples and 1% milk. When McD's repackaged milk in brightly colored plastic containers, sales doubled. The fast food giant is now exploring adding vitamin-laced drinks and fruit smoothies in the future.
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Disney theme parks have substituted healthy drinks and veggies for kids unless families specifically request soda and fries. Disney has also licensed some of its most popular characters on fruit and vegetable combo trays, and milk.
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Kraft is reducing sodium in some of its Lunchables, and General Mills is lowering fat and sugar in popular cereals like Spider-Man 3.
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The American Beverage Association in an agreement with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, will no longer be offering 20 ounce beverages in schools in the 2009-2010 school year. The new norm: 12 ounce beverages in high schools and smaller sizes in middle and elementary schools. Vending machines are being retrofitted to accommodate the new, smaller sized containers.
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To date: sodas and sugary drinks have decreased by 45% in U.S. schools; bottled water is up by 23%.
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100 calorie snack packs have been such a hit, more of the same is on the horizon. These snacks are focusing on providing tasty treats sans unhealthy trans fats.
Bottom line: while personal responsibility and parental guidance are necessary in assisting our kids with their food choices, so too, do food and beverage companies share in that responsibility. By not advertising these clearly enticing products to kids under the age of 12, by not marketing the least nutritious junk foods to youth in favor of better choices, and by lowering the amount of sugar, salt and eliminating harmful fats in many snack foods and beverages, food companies will have begun to do their share to assist parents in the battle to instill good nutrition and to fight against obesity.
Questions:
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What more do you think should be done to clean up our snack foods and beverages?
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Do you think getting away from the "Super Size Me" mentality would help? Would it be helpful if snacks, sodas and sugary beverages came in smaller sizes than they do now?
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Do you think vending machines should be eliminated in schools completely–even if they do provide revenue for school programs?
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Do you think snack food and beverage companies can "do well and do good" to cite a great line from the article?
I'd love to hear from you.