In Cereals, most heavily marketed brands are actually the most unhealthy
STUDY BY YALE: In 2011, children cereals got $264 million in advertising, with "aggressive marketing" for Reese’s Puffs, Kellogg’s Froot Loops, and Post’s Fruity Pebbles.
These three brands, however, had the highest amount of sugar and the lowest amount of nutritional value.
Kids normally eat more than one serving of cereal a morning, meaning "before they leave the house in the morning, children eating these presweetened cereals will have consumed as much sugar as they should eat in an entire day," the report said.
Also from the report:
Children’s exposure to TV ads increased for seven child-targeted cereals — including Kellogg’s Froot Loops (+79%); General Mills’ Reese’s Puffs (+55%) and Trix (+29%); and Post’s Pebbles (+25%).
Kellogg nearly doubled banner advertising on children’s websites for its child targeted brands. General Mills increased banner advertising for four brands, including Honey Nut Cheerios (+185%), Lucky Charms (+58%), and Cinnamon Toast Crunch (which was not advertised in 2008-2009). Banner advertising for Post’s Pebbles doubled.
Despite an overall decline in TV ads for child-targeted cereals, black children’s total exposure to TV ads for child-targeted brands increased by 7.5%— with the biggest increases for Kellogg’s Froot Loops (+88%) and General Mills’ Reese’s Puffs (+72%).
Cereal company spending on Spanish-language TV more than doubled— from $26 million to $65 million. Hispanic preschoolers, on average, saw 90 Spanish-language TV ads for cereals in 2011 (in addition to ads on English TV). Kellogg and General Mills launched new Spanish-language TV campaigns to promote Froot Loops and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
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Source: http://www.cerealfacts.org/