October 26, 2009 Cereal Companies Market Least Healthy Products to Children and Teens The least healthy cereals are being marketed to children most frequently, according to a study released today by Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The report, Cereal f.a.c.t.s.: Food Advertising to Children and Teens Score, found that compared to cereals marketed to adults, those marketed to children have 85% more sugar, 65% less fiber, and 60% more sodium.  Cereal companies spend  $156 million per year marketing to children through television ads but also market through the Internet and in-store.  The average preschooler views 642 cereals ads annually on television, almost all for cereals with the worst nutrition ratings.  The cereal companies all have products that receive good nutrition scores, but few are marketed to children; research shows that children will eat the healthier cereals.  In order to make sustained progress toward marketing only healthy cereals, the report offers the following recommendations:  1) cereals marketed to children should meet objective nutrition standards that have children’s health as the goal; 2) products failing to meet nutrition standards should not be marketed when either the percentage of children in an audience exceeds a defined level or the number of children in an audience reaches a defined level; 3) standards should be set by an objective body such as the Institute of Medicine; and 4) companies should be held accountable for the impact of their products on children and for not having made meaningful changes through self-regulation. See also: RWJF: Kids Spoon-Fed Marketing and Advertising for Least Healthy Breakfast Cereals CHHCS: Schools and Childhood Overweight

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