More shock waves from the Kellogg's agreement

The Kellogg's agreement has shaken up the kid's junk food, advertising and media industries. According to Adverstising Age, "Kellogg has kick-started an industry trend expected to throw into play some $1 billion or more in marketing dollars." Kid-oriented shows depend on these dollars for a huge chunk of their revenue. Nickelodeon received $44 million in adverstising revenue from Kellogg's last year.

If Tony can do it, so can Ronald

This week, the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood and the Center for Science in the Public Interest and two Mass. moms agreed to withdraw their lawsuit against Kellogg's in response to Kellogg's commitment to making changes in how and what is advertises to kids under 12.

According to the NY Times,

The Kellogg Company announced today that it will phase out advertising its products to children under age 12 unless the foods meet specific nutrition guidelines for calories, sugar, fat and sodium. Kellogg also announced that it would stop using licensed characters or branded toys to promote foods unless the products meet the nutrition guidelines. The voluntary changes, which will be put in place over the next year and a half, will apply to about half of the products that Kellogg currently markets to children worldwide, including Froot Loops and Apple Jacks cereals and some varieties of Pop Tarts.

Why another mom quality correspondent for McD's

Last week I found out about McDonald's "Moms Quality Correspondents" - six women who will give McDonald's feedback about the quality of its product. Alas, I missed the deadline for applying to be one of the lucky six, and also didn't quite meet all the eligibility requirements (one of which is eating at McDonald's).

But I realized that this could be a great opportunity to be a part of a dialogue about a few issues I really care about including:

1. How fast food companies market their products to children
2. The story behind all those happy meal toys
3. The story behind the meat eggs and other food products McDonald's uses.

So, I appointed myself the seventh McDonald's Quality Correspondent. Like the other six, I will receive no pay for my services, and will take the next three months to write about these issues. I will also be commenting on the information the other six correspondents share as they "journal" about their experiences as insiders at McDonald's.