This post is a personal account of how advertising that is directed at children had a direct impact on me. If you like this article, please consider giving it a Digg or subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

Growing up, I loved cereal. I craved the sweet, satisfying taste; I loved the temperature of the cold milk mingling with the cereal; I savored the crunchy texture; I enjoyed the way the milk absorbed the sweetness and the color of the cereal. I just loved it.

I also liked the assumed feeling of commonality with other kids across the nation who were eating the same thing. It made me feel like I “fit in” in some odd way.

Of course, our Mom insisted on the non-sugary stuff, so products like Cheerios were the staple rather than the sweeter options (more on the effectiveness of that strategy later).

When I moved out on my own lo’ those many years ago, the three things that I had in my “pantry” (the closet in my studio apartment) were: a) One case of macaroni and cheese (thanks Mom), b) One case of ramen packages (complete with those delectable silver packets of MSG and who knows what else), and c) One box of Cap’n Crunch Crunchberries – my personal favorite at the time. Or, Lucky Charms, if I wanted to “get my greens.” Gotta’ cover those food groups.

So when money was tight (as it always was), which food did I choose to replenish? Hand’s down, it was the fun-lovin’ Cap’n, that crazy happy go lucky Leprichaun, or the I-don’t-even-know-what-he-is-but-I-like-it Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs dude, who won the priorities crown. When it came down to it, it was pretty obvious who was going home from the scratch-and-dent grocery store.

In fact, when money was really tight, I may have tried to eat cereal with water out of desperation.

I strongly discourage it.

In thinking about how I got to where I am today, you know – morbidly obese, apparently – I have been analyzing what I eat, when I eat it, how I eat it, my history with food, and how to change those habits for good. And as part of my discovery process, I stumbled across my old friends, those lovable characters from the folks at General Mills.

If you look at the packaging, and believe it, this stuff has GOT to be good for you. It’s “made with whole grains!” — that’s good, right? And its got this official-looking imprint that says, “Heart Healthy!” – To me, that strongly suggests that your heart’s health will benefit from eating this product.

That and the fact that the nutritional information says there are only 110 calories in a serving, and none of those evil trans fats. Safe. I’ve covered my whole grains, my heart healthiness, and my trans fat ban. Dig in, my large friend. Dig. In.

Cereal 101: How teenagers eat

But what is the reality of how I ate cereal, particularly as a teenager? Here’s how I ate my favorite staple food:

• I never ate only a single, measured cup’s worth – it was always at least 2 cups (realistically, I put as much cereal as would fit in the bowl while still being able to squeeze some milk in – just like the front of the box suggested in the picture).
• Even with a couple of measuring cups worth in the first bowl, I often had a smaller second helping.
• Sometimes I ate it dry, like when I was snacking on it by the handful in front of the TV.
• It made the perfect after school snack, particularly with both parents working. Repeat the 2+ cups and milk.
• With milk, it was as directed by the cover of the box with at least 1 and ½ to 2 cups of 2% milk I would guess (I like my cereal to float). The milk on the cereal box did not have that blue luminescence of non-fat, by the way.

At that “real” serving size and 2% milk (130 calories per cup), that is roughly 480 calories each time I ate it – and that was often twice a day, plus lunch, dinner, and whatever else I felt like eating. Another lesser-thought-about fact: In commercials, cereal is pitched as a “healthy part of a balanced breakfast,” which generally (at that time at least) included a scene composed of a couple of pieces of toast and a large glass of orange juice (as I recall).

Per the direction in the commercials, add a couple of pieces of buttered toast (about 250 calories), and a glass of juice (about 100 calories) as a “healthy part of a balanced breakfast,” and Guess how many calories you have?

830 calories.

Do that a couple of times a day, and you are headed for disaster. Cereal? Check. Disaster? Check.

And what about Mom’s rule against the “sugary” cereals?

Although Mom’s rule was well-intentioned, in reality there is only a 10 calorie difference per serving, despite the taste being much less sweet. But maybe more importantly, since the cereal was not obviously sweet, we added sugar – at least a couple of teaspoons worth – just to sweeten the deal, adding another 28 calories PER SERVING. And at some point, we were able to talk her into Honey Nut Cheerios, which sound terribly healthy, but negated the caloric difference. It is all of 2 calories different than Trix.

Grand total: 886 calories. To burn that off, I was looking at 2 solid hours of high impact aerobics. Yeah right.

In fact, according to the McDonald’s Web site, I would have saved 3 calories had I gone with the double cheeseburger and medium fries instead.

What, who me watch commercials?

Did commercials have an impact on my choices, or maybe more importantly my decisions on how I ate those foods?. Over the years I watched breakfast cereal commercials thousands of times during Saturday morning cartoons, during evening family shows like Knight Rider, and all points between. (If you have a hard time believing that this is marketed directly to kids, check this link which I found entertaining. Look at the box designs, and you be the judge: http://www.lavasurfer.com/cereal-generalmills.html. Do you really think that Moms are the ones who care if those three chefs making Cinnamon Toast Crunch are really that squishy-fun?)

One of the interesting things to note: When you look at box covers and ads for cereal, particularly from the 80′s and 90′s, how many of them feature bowls of cereal that look like they are the “suggested serving size” of a single cup? To me, they look an awful lot like the bowls that I considered “normal”, which equated to at least two cups, sometimes more. The photos almost always show the cereal filled to the rim of the bowl – just like I liked it.

Before I go further, I should pause to say that the intent of this article is not to serve as an indictment of an industry per se. I’m not an scientist; I’m just relating my experience. However, I think its clear that the results of eating what was suggested as normal via advertising and child-targeted marketing campaigns, and truly how most kids I knew in my generation ate cereal – which meant ultimately that we ate much more than we should have regardless of what the fine print said about the “recommended” portion size. The picture on the front, the ads that I watched, and the addictive nature of foods that are saturated with refined sugars a la high fructose corn syrup were all I needed to over-consume something that I probably shouldn’t have been eating in the first place.

For an indictment on the other hand, I say look to the professionals.

So what do the experts say?

For an informed, well-researched and well-funded opinion, here’s a good one to start with:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) completed a report on food industries who market products to children, which was largely dismissed by the corporations studied (including General Mills) as being an unfair representation of their efforts. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has published the report, which you can (and should) read, here: http://iom.edu/CMS/3788/21939/31330.aspx

Here’s an excerpt from the abstract:

“How marketing influences children and youth is the focus of the IOM report, Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? The report provides the most comprehensive review to date of the scientific evidence on the influence of food marketing on diets and diet-related health of children and youth. The study was requested by Congress and sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report finds that current food and beverage marketing practices puts children’s long-term health at risk. If America’s children and youth are to develop eating habits that help them avoid early onset of diet-related chronic diseases, they have to reduce their intake of high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks, fast foods, and sweetened drinks, which make up a high proportion of the products marketed to them.”

The powerful American Advertising Federation (AAF) disagrees. You can read their response, here.

An interesting tidbit from the AAF’s Web site, which talks about legislation that they support:

S. 908: Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act. Introduced by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., April 26, 2005. This bill would ban most obesity-related lawsuits against restaurants and other food sellers, including food advertisers. Seven co-sponsors have signed onto the bill, but no hearings have been held or scheduled.

Another example of legislation the AAF opposed was this: In 2004 Sen. Tom Harkin introduced the HeLP (Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention) America Act. The American Psychology Association summarizes the HeLP America Act nicely, making it easier to sift through. Their summary includes the following:

Title III. Responsible Marketing and Consumer Awareness

• Restaurant Labeling: Requires nutritional information on menus of chain restaurants.
• Protect Kids from Unfair Junk Food Advertising: Restores the rulemaking authority of the Federal Trade Commission to issue restrictions on advertising with respect to children.
• Food Advertising in Schools: Gives Secretary of Agriculture authority to prohibit the marketing and advertising of food in schools participating in the School Lunch or Breakfast programs.
• Tobacco Marketing: Eliminates tax deductibility of tobacco advertising, and funds counter-advertising.

You can read the complete summary from the APA, here: http://www.apa.org/ppo/issues/helpactsummary.html.

I suppose that I’m not the only one who isn’t surprised that Big Tobacco and the largest food corporations are working together and spending a lot of money to preserve their ability to market their products (even if only indirectly) to children.

What is at stake? Why would the large food industries align with tobacco companies? From the Fact Sheet from the CDC’s report:

The purchase influence of children and youth increases with age and is currently estimated at $500 billion for 2–14 year-olds.

That kind of says it all.

If you want to read more about the growing cries of foul against cereal makers and how their ad campaigns are not surprisingly similar to cigarette ad campains, here’s an interesting article on CBS.com – its one of many, many articles that are making their way into the mainstream.

My conclusion

For me, there is no question. I’m certain that cereal consumption was a big contributing factor to my current health challenge. I don’t need a degree in nutrition to tell me that what I ate in the form of Coo Coo Nutty goodness and artificial peanut butter flavoring was, in the end, a real detriment to my overall health.

Epilogue

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m now working at completely changing my dietary habits to eating real food in moderation (AlmostFit.com). So far this is working well for me; I’ve lost 20 lbs to date and I’m still eating foods like full fat ice cream, bread, meat, and lots of organic fruits and vegetables – just less of them.

And what about cereal? The irony is, I’ve had to give up cereal. Not for dietary, moral, or ethical reasons; I’ve become mildly lactose intolerant, so cereal and milk no longer see eye to eye with my intestinal tract.

How do I feel about that? I feel lucky that I have a really good reason not to indulge in one of my childhood favorites. Though I don’t smoke, if scientists could engineer a genetic mutation that created nicotine intolerance, our collective health might just start to turn the corner.

And one more thing. What was the outcome of the HeLP America Act? From the Web site GovTrack.us (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-1074), here’s the result:

This bill never became law. This bill was proposed in a previous session of Congress. Sessions of Congress last two years, and at the end of each session all proposed bills and resolutions that haven’t passed are cleared from the books.

Thank goodness for lactose intolerance.

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