The Business Ethics Blog

From the NY Times: Kellogg to Phase Out Some Food Ads to Children

Froot Loops’ days on Saturday morning television may be numbered.
The Kellogg Company said yesterday that it would 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 change is apparently an attempt to fend off lawsuits:

The policy changes come 16 months after Kellogg and Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon, were threatened with a lawsuit over their advertising to children by two advocacy groups, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and two Massachusetts parents.

Even so, this move puts Kellog out in front of an industry that has generally done too little to self-regulate.

See also this blog entry from last year: Ethics of Advertising Bad Food to Kids.