Kellogg Apologizes For Misleading Ads

Amy Kuras — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:01:00 GMT

Here’s a newsflash: Frosted Mini Wheats are not health food. Yes, yes, I too am shocked that anything whose name starts with “frosted” is not perhaps the healthiest thing you can choose for your breakfast.

This was apparently not the view of Kellogg, however. Right on the box, (and I have one in my house so don’t think I am all hating on Frosted Mini Wheats) Kellogg claims the cereal improves children’s attentiveness nearly 20 percent. However, the study referenced in the advertising actually found attentiveness improved in only half the kids who ate Frosted Mini Wheats, and only 11 percent of the kids who ate them improved their attention by 20 percent.

The Federal Trade Commission slapped Kellogg for making these claims, and Kellogg last week entered into a settlement with the FTC which will require them to prove any claims they make are substantiated and true.

Still, with all the crap we’re encouraged to feed our kids, Frosted Mini Wheats is hardly the worst morning choice, magical attentiveness-boosting fiber or no.

And to be fair, Kellogg just donated all of its production for a day to Feeding America, a national hunger-fighting organization , doubtless as a PR counter-move to this news. However, I don’t think someone who’s having trouble getting by and can now feed her kids cereal in the morning necessarily cares.

Cookies that time forgot - Hydrox

Brett Singer — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:54:00 GMT

Kellogg's has decided to bring back the cookie that everyone always thought of as an Oreo also-ran. The reason? An online petition that was signed by a whopping 1,000 people. They also received 1,300 phone calls.

Now, maybe I'm crazy, but that doesn't sound like enough of a fan base to bring back a product. Unless these people realllly like their Hydrox, it seems unlikely that they will buy enough cookies to justify the re-release. This year is the 100th anniversary of Hydrox's introduction in 1908, so maybe that's another reason. The cookies will only be sold for "a limited time" beginning in August, although if sales are good one imagines the cookie will stick around for a while.

As it turns out, Hydrox was introduced 4 years before Oreos, which makes one wonder why Sunshine Biscuits Co. (since absorbed by Kellogg) didn't go the Mattel route and attempt to sue Nabisco into oblivion. (Maybe lawsuits weren't so popular in the early part of the 20th century. Or maybe they did sue, and they lost.)

Back in the day, one of Hydrox's main attractions was that the filling was made without lard, rendering it Kosher (literally), and also Vegan-friendly. According to this site, Oreo no longer uses pig fat. That's too bad, since that could've made for a great marketing campaign. Hook up with PETA, tap into the no-animal-products snack food base, get Pam Anderson to do the ads, wearing nothing except a thin coating of cookies... Now they'll have to rely on that gigantic 1,000 strong fan base.

image: What on Earth?!

Strollerderby : kellogg

Kellogg Apologizes For Misleading Ads

Cookies that time forgot - Hydrox