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• McDonald's New Advertising Message to Kids: Get Active

  McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner recently stated that his company will not curb advertising to children. Instead, McDonald's will encourage kids to jump rope, juggle, and participate in other forms of exercise. I wrote last week that if a company can legally sell an item to a certain demographic, then that company should be able to advertise to that demographic, so I'm all for Skinner's decision not to decrease advertising to children. Removing fast food advertisements will not keep kids from eating burgers. We don't allow cigarette advertisements on television. How's that working out? McDonald's is trying to offer healthier alternatives to children. Kids can substitute apple slices, albeit with caramel dipping sauce, for french fries. Kids can also order milk or apple juice instead of Coke. Creating advertisements that will hopefully get more children interested in exercise is a commendable next step. Fast food advertisements that target children will not be going away anytime soon. At least McDonald's is moving in the right direction. With McDonald's help, kids will learn to jump rope so they can work off all those calories from their Happy Meal!   Posted Jul 20 2007, 01:45 PM by ChagHolland with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: mcdonald's, childhood obesity, exercise, advertsing to kids

• Banning Fast Food Advertising Will Not Cure Obesity

  Currently, thirty-seven percent of Malaysians are considered obese. In an effort to combat the rising obesity rates among their country's population, the Malaysian government has decided to ban all fast food advertising from children's programming. I think this is ridiculous. If the government feels an item is detrimental to the health of its citizens, the item should be outlawed, not the advertising. If an item can be legally sold to a certain demographic, there is no reason why that item should not be advertised to that demographic. It should be up to the individual, or in this case, the parent to decide how to process the advertisements. Read More... Posted Jul 12 2007, 04:30 PM by ChagHolland with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: fast food, obesity, childhood obesity, advertsing to kids

• Kids and Cigarettes: A Match Made in Heaven

  When we were very young and very stupid, and when we couldn't pilfer smokes from older brothers or fathers, my friends and I would find discarded cigarettes outside of stores and strip clubs and hepatitis clinics, give them a good brush on the jeans and light them up. I think we were role models for the cigarette industry -- the perfect dupes so enthralled by the coolness of smoking that we risked contracting scary hobo germs to do it. Just one. That's all the industry is banking on. That just one of us would get hooked. The Seattle PI's daddy blog -- "Working Dad" -- links to a scary stat showing that 4,000 kids smoke their first cigarette each day -- and 1 in 4 of them gets hooked. Thank god Joe Camel is dead, right? Kids no longer have anything to fear. Think again. Read More... Posted May 29 2007, 08:29 AM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with no comments Filed under: cigarettes, advertising, advertisements, advertsing to kids

• Are "Kids" Animated Films Getting Too Grown-Up?

  Shrek 3, Meet the Robinsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ratatouille - those are the names of just a few of the animated movies slated for release this spring/early summer, and honestly, I wouldn't consider taking my child to one of them.  While the slick animation and colorful characters might hold her attention for a few minutes, I know most of the plot would go right over her head, the innuendo would be lost on her, and she would be trying to crawl back into my uterus every time the villain came on screen - there's always a villain. Read More... Posted May 19 2007, 11:11 AM by Alisyn with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: kids movies, advertsing to kids