Kellogg's national TV ads asserted that attentiveness improved nearly 20 percent in children who ate the cereal, compared with those who skipped breakfast, the FTC said. But the study the ads refer to found a benefit from eating Frosted Mini-Wheats in only half the children studied, and only 11 percent of the children's attention improved 20 percent, according to the FTC.
The FTC and Kellogg agreement is called a "consent agreement" and is open to public comment until May 19th, at which time the FTC will decide whether to finalize it.
"Kellogg to settle FTC charges of false advertising" [via Rangelife] (Thanks to Eric!)
(Photo: stacy michelle)
So yes. sugar can cause diabetes. I am living proof as a type 2 diabetic.
Sounds to me like it is you who does not really understand diabetes.
]]>Walter Willett, chair of the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health - "There's no substantial evidence to support the idea that high-fructose corn syrup is somehow responsible for obesity .... If there was no high-fructose corn syrup, I don't think we would see a change in anything important."
]]>Forget the FTC, the FDA needs to be put in charge of all health claims made by products as it should have been a decade ago.
Thousands of food and other products claim "clinical studies suggest" anything the manufacturer wants to claim with no need for third party data to back it up.
People are going to get hurt someday from a product that claims to do something and THEN the FDA is going to have to step in. Sad!
]]>Kellogg's uses HFCS in almost every cereal--even corn flakes.
]]>@Tiber: What about telekenises? Then you could levitate. Close enough to flying. Double duh.
]]>@Comrade ☠Grяrяrяrяrяrяrя reporting for duty!: Always nice to see a Soylent Green reference in a food posting.
]]>When we (my 3 brothers and I) had cereal for breakfast it was either Cheerios or Rice Crispies. None of the sugar (I don't think the HFCS was in the back in the day) stuff for us. If it wasn't cereal, mom made us pancakes or waffles or eggs (she always got our sunny side ups done great, but for her's she would inevitably break the first egg she dropped). Those were the days my friend. And lunch, oh boy! Real sandwiches. Chicken cutlets. Meatball heroes.
/Thanks for the memories.
The first time I saw that ad I said "obviously kids that eat breakfast will function better than without, it has NOTHING to do with mini wheats"
]]>@GuinevereRucker: I don't know if it's something in the water (I'm in NYC and I was born here, so I've been drinking it all my life) or my parents' influence, but I've been a cynic from my early days. My cynicism is what's made me despise naming rights as well as product tie-ins (the movie and burger/pizza ones are really blatent and very annoying).
I am a just-the-facts person.
Hell to the fuck yeah. I was in the grocery store not one week ago arguing sort of shouting at the boxes asking why that didn't exist anymore. I also liked the ones that had either a blueberry or strawberry filling. This frosted outside shit has got to stop.
Yes, I embarrass my husband frequently where ever we go by arguing with the merchandise.
]]>Kids probably do better with breakfast, vs. no breakfast. So maybe it doesn't matter what they eat, as long as they eat. That doesn't mean Mini-wheats is the reason!
]]>I bet if those parents would cut out non necessities like the cable TV, make due with not eating out, and drive an older model used car instead of having 2 new vehicles in the driveway then I bet one could stay home and spend time with the kids. Also they wouldnt have to spend half of one check just for daycare. But instead we have to have everything even if it causes us to live paycheck to paycheck and not spend time with the kids.
]]>@Alys Brangwin is one smartass pawn: ADD is so 1999. Autism is the current affliction du jour.
]]>@veg-o-matic: "Kids who eat breakfast learn better, and you as a parent will have an easier time luring them into breakfast if it's coated with sugar. Please consider Frosted Mini Wheats for this purpose."
I would buy that product. And I don't have children. But I like to reward breathtaking honesty in advertisement (and punish the idiots).
]]>@jfielder23: That was my first thought. It's sad how much of a reflex that's become.
]]>Well FMW does have a ton more fiber, and a bit of protein...I'd definately say it is a step above most children's cereals as far as nutrition:
Fiber: 5.1! (thats a lot)
Protein: 5.0 (a good amount for cereal).
Lucky Charms:
Fiber: 1.4 (meh, not awful, but nothing special).
Protein: 2.1 (eh)
New "Frosted Ritalin Wheats" raises attentiveness by 100% and produces 30% less sass-mouth!
]]>This looks a little like the technique used in pharmaceutical ads: they start out with a whole list of general symptoms with which the viewer can identify and buy into before getting into the specifics of the drug, which might not even apply to the viewer.. but they've successfully hooked said viewer and increase the chances that he/she will inquire about the drug.
]]>It seems to me that saying something like "...improved their attentiveness by [up to] nearly 20%..." would be the most they would need to change, if that.
]]>Signed,
Homer
]]>@honestlytoomuch: See, I'd be all about buying organic, if it was something that was viable in my area. It's just not possible. We don't have that many organic products available in our supermarkets. Your best option is to purchase at a farmer's market, but even then, that's not always a guarantee...it's better, but only marginally.
]]>@unobservant: 60% of the time it works every time!
]]>"Some of the kids who had a filling breakfast of Frosted Mini Wheats Cereal improved their attentiveness by nearly 20% when compared to kids who missed out on breakfast, although only half of the kids improved in even the slightest way."
Turned into:
"...Kids who had a filling breakfast of Frosted Mini Wheats Cereal improved their attentiveness by nearly 20% when compared to kids who missed out on breakfast..."
]]>Mini-wheats make you smarter, so it can only lead to telepathy, or possibly predicting the future. Duh.
]]>@valsharess1: Yes, I do a lot of label reading and yes there are non-organic foods out there w/out HFCS. I happen to buy organic b/c I also don't like all the preservatices and chemicals that go into packaged food. No HFCS is a plus. Bravo on finding similarly priced item. I always find food w/out HFCS is more expensive.
]]>I think the only way my parents could have gotten me to eat anything that resembles a hay bale would have been to feed me breakfast blindfolded. Maybe this activity could have sparked tons of brain growth and interaction with my parents. I'd think DCFS would have eventually been called in to investigate such a unique family hobby.
]]>"Hey, kid! Yeah, you! Look over here!"
Making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
]]>@axiomatic:
So you think eating a lot of sugar causes diabetes ? WOW that is sure not very smart...
@Saboth: I've seen the accountant commercial several times, and I'm still waiting for something sarcastic to happen. Like I forget there's not a gag in it. Every time. It's weird.
]]>@Magspie: I'm going to guess that they had all the kids show up at a testing center in the morning (unfed), fed half breakfast, waited a little while, and then subjected them to whatever concentration tests they'd concocted.
]]>@Radi0logy: Why? And there is nothing "garbage" about HFCS. If your going to tell me "it's made from corn, it's natural, it won't affect you in small amounts" please just stop yourself. Maybe if there was a way to only eat small amounts of HFCS it would be okay, BUT THERE'S NOT. It's in practically everything you pick up that is packaged. I've recently stopped eating packaged food or have only bought organic to get this crap out of my body and my life. Most people don't have the luxury of buying everything they eat at an inflated price b/c its organic or made with an alternative sweetner. SO YOU SHUT UP WITH YOUR TEENAGE EYEROLL COMMENTS THAT ARE NOT HELPFUL.
]]>@Magspie: One group that ate Mini Wheats, one that didn't eat anything, and a control group that ate something that looked like Mini Wheats but wasn't (perhaps some kind of shredded cardboard substitute).
]]>The ads say, specifically:
Kids who had a filling breakfast of Frosted Mini Wheats Cereal improved their attentiveness by nearly 20% when compared to kids who missed out on breakfast
It would be a bit more honest to say it like this:
"Kids who eat breakfast learn better, and you as a parent will have an easier time luring them into breakfast if it's coated with sugar. Please consider Frosted Mini Wheats for this purpose."
@Darrone: Forget flying. Time control is much more fun:
If they had left it as "If your kid eats breakfast your kid will do better in school," or even "If your kid eats Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs your kid will do better in school," they might not have earned the FTC's ire. I thought that's all the commercials were, actually. I guess they got ahead of themselves and thought no one would catch on.
]]>We need your moneys to conduct scientific studies, collect results, tamper with them, and then advertise so we sell more cereal.
Love,
Kellogs
Or, take the easy way out and give them a bowl of cereal!
By the way, if you haven't learned already that all advertising is designed only to get you to buy things, read up on advertising techniques. I've learned to disbelieve everything I read on a product label or hear in advertisements before I even read it.
]]>@skizsrodt: That throws my feelings on this for a loop. If all they did was imply FMW would enhance better than other cereals, then I don't really care. If they clearly indicated that it would, then I have some concerns.
After all, don't most ads imply that using X is the best of all options in X's market?
]]>@joeblevins: I know. I'm the same way. My parents always made us eat something, even if it was just poptarts on the walk to school. And ya know what? Between me and 3 siblings, we all were on the honor roll, we never got into any fights, and were involved in a bunch of activities. So, I have to agree with the "eat breakfast and do better in school" mantra.
]]>@snowburnt: Apparently the FCC can if they lie in order to do it.
]]>Dear Kelloggs:
Stop charging nearly $5 for a freakin' box of cereal.
signed,
The World
Seriously, did anyone believe that your kid HAD to eat this cereal to do better in school? Hell, eating any sort of breakfast helps you out because you're able to focus on things due to the lack of pain and noise from your stomach.
My parents made sure I ate breakfast every morning and I turned out OK.
]]>If the parents are gullible enough to believe that eating Frosted Mini Wheats will make their children star pupils, I suspect there is little chance that their offspring are going to be future members of the honor roll.
]]>@EdnaLegume: Unfortunately, thats not a sentiment shared by most people. It's tough to think when tv does it for you.
]]>@SuperNatendo: By your logic, those parents that don't bother to hold down a job at all and have plenty of time with the kids should have the smartest children around.
]]>@Crabby Cakes: The last time I saw this ad, I paid attention to the language more just to see what it said. It didn't specifically say that the cereal improved performance, but actually eating breakfast. They implied that it would be the cereal. I think its funny that its on here now.
]]>@Applekid:
Dear Kelloggs:
Please bring back Pop Tarts Cereal.
Please, and thanks!
]]>My son, who's eight, actually prefers raisin bran.
]]>@snowburnt: This isn't getting "nit-picky". They flat-out lied about the effects of their cereal. If parents hear a study that says their kids will have a leg up on academic achievement by eating Mini-Wheats, of course they're going to buy them. But that's not what the study actually said, and the makers knew it. They readily agreed to stop lying when the FTC called them on it, which indicates they knew all along they were misrepresenting the study results and were just hoping to cash in until they got called on it.
]]>That is all. <3
]]>I still have no idea how they measured attentiveness.
]]>My kids hate them and I didn't like them until recently.
I think the general statement should be 'Eat Breakfast, Do better in school'
]]>I think the commercials are cute. Especially the frosted mini-wheats little bites. They're basically mini mini-wheats.
But my questing is this: How many kids actually EAT frosted mini-wheats? I didn't start eating them until I was in college, because I KNEW they were healthier for me than the fruit loops or coco pebbles. Honestly...most kids are wary to their parents making them eat healthy food.
]]>Granted, frosted mini-wheats might not be the best brain food or breakfast food, but the commercial says: If your kid eats breakfast your kid will do better in school. There's numerous reasons for it, when you eat breakfast you're likely to interact more with your family in the morning, also when you eat breakfast it helps your energy levels throughout the day.
Sure, they say it with imagery of the cereal, but who can blame them for pushing their agenda?
They weren't exact on the numbers, for that, shame on you, fix your commercial.
]]>SCIENCE!
]]>But that's O.K. because the Gooberment ensures a certain below average economic equilibrium in order to make it too hard for parents to be able to spend time enough away from work to worry about what they are indoctrinating the children with...
]]>