English: Bob Iger at the World of Color Premiere Disney California Adventure (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 2015, foods that are advertised on Disney channels must meet some nutrition guidelines before getting airtime. These nutrition guidelines have been established by the Disney corporation to demarcate healthy from junk food. Since obesity is becoming such a problem for children in the U.S., Disney CEO Robert Iger wants to promote healthier foods and associate them with Disney characters in hopes that kids will start eating better. This advertising campaign is one of the first of its kind in America from such a large corporation.
Hopefully, this nutritious move by Disney will get other large businesses and corporations to take notice. It’s hard to keep kids away from the television. (I know. My Worm is already mesmerized by the boob tube and he’s only a year old.) So controlling what kids watch becomes a large part of parenting. Keeping kids from wanting Gummy Fudgy Chemical Candycanes after seeing 500 daily commercials of it becomes difficult. As a parent, what are you going to do? Turn off the TV between commercials? It’s bad enough that commercials are allowed to increase their loudness to get your attention. The not so subliminal messages affect kids because their brains are so spongelike and absorbent (like a Bounty paper towel). The reason why such a move probably hasn’t happened before is that advertising pays bills. And this is precisely the reason why TV networks have allowed almost any and everything to be aired between shows. Money talks.
I’m in favor of this corporate move by Disney. I’m happy that my kid won’t be completely brainwashed by the Disney media saturating his waking hours with junk food images. (It may even get me to add cable TV to our house…ok, maybe not.) I’d still much rather the powerful corporations make these types of changes rather than have our government do so. Once the government gets involved, the many rules, regulations and clowns typically turn a good idea into a circus side-show act. The majority of the responsibility though, should lie with the individual and in this case, the parents.
This is a Yummy Apricot All For Me! (Sorry for blurry. I’m still trying to figure out how to work my camera!)
Obviously, food in America is a complex thing because we always want meals to be cheaper, faster, and better. And in my lifetime, I’ve seen cheaper and faster become the mantra of American food, with better food becoming more difficult to find. Cheaper, faster food now always gets more expensive later. (Do you ever wonder why baby food and toddler food is usually organic, pure, natural, and artificial ingredient free?)
Original article:
Disney To Ban Junk-Food Ads For Kids As America Struggles With Its Fat Problem
Me vs. Gavin 