By Dawn McMullan, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX –
My 4-year-old isn't very savvy.
I've seen his 7-year-old brother talk him out of a beloved Rescue Hero action figure in exchange for a Chuck E. Cheese trinket he dug out from under the seat in my car.
He thinks we could get to our cousin's house in Minneapolis and back between lunch and bedtime. He still wants me to pause TV shows while he goes to the bathroom. And he was shocked when - after the birth of four kittens to our porch cat - the philandering feline I'd ID'ed as daddy never came to visit.
Yet despite his obvious lack of street smarts, my 4-year-old and his playground peers are the marketing targets of McDonald's, we learned recently in hearings at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science.
The one-day hearing took place as a forum for government regulators and food marketers to discuss the issue of childhood obesity. Senator Tom Larken, a Democrat from Iowa, wants Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to organize a national conference to create recommended standards for companies advertising and marketing to kids.
What a wild idea - controlling our children's exposure to unhealthy messages. Remember Joe Camel?
All this started last year when the American Psychological Association recommended banning ads during TV shows for which more than half the viewing audience was under the age of 8.
Eight? Why, that's way past our children's marketing prime. And double the age McDonald's thinks our kids are capable of making an educated buying decision.
Malena Peleo-Lazar, McDonald's chief creative officer and vice president, said his company markets its Happy Meals to kids between the ages of 4 and 7, shooting for the 6-year-old consumer. He specifically mentioned how they send Ronald McDonald to schools to teach kids about healthy food choices.
Interesting. Makes me wonder why aren't we making better use of Saddam Hussein's time by sending him to schools to discuss the nuances of running a democratic society?
Not to pick on just McDonald's. Officials from Kraft, General Mills, and PepsiCo all say they don't run ads unless the majority of the target audience is at least six years old. Six-year-olds, of course, should be able to discern that broccoli and milk would be a better choice than KFC and a Pepsi. What 6-year-olds are these executives lunching with?
Additionally, Kraft recently announced it plans to limit advertising targeted to children under 12. Apparently, people are starting to notice that when under-active children pound the mac and cheese, the pounds add up. So Kraft is phasing out TV and radio ads aimed at kids between the ages of 6 and 11.
Kraft, though, does not plan any changes to its marketing of Lunchables and Kool-Aid. Hmm, doesn't seem like they're really that concerned about our children's health after all. When I was in first grade, I secretly always hoped that Kool-Aid pitcher would bounce through my house just as Mom finished stirring the picture of colored sugar for all my friends.
While I agree with the idea of a ban on marketing anything that could be considered unhealthy to my children, it seems most parents do not. According to a report entitled "Nutrition and Obesity: What Does Mom Really Think," 40 percent of respondents "completely agree" there is too much marketing of junk food to kids. But only 6 percent think the government should ban such marketing. Perhaps that's because 65 percent think it's a parent's job to educate kids about healthy eating - not the company at the other end of the ad.
Fair enough. Of course, it isn't Kraft's fault if my kid drinks Kool-Aid. It isn't McDonald's fault if he thinks a Happy Meal is an actual dinner. But we parents need all the help we can get. How about produce action figures, like Karate Carrots or Octopus Oranges?
And, personally, I'd like to see Ronald McDonald and his kind ride away into the sunset on Joe Camel.
Dawn McMullan is a writer from Dallas. If you have opinions or rebuttals about this commentary, call (214) 740-9338 or email us.