FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday,
December 2, 2008
Contact: Jeff Cronin, 202-777-8370, or Stacey Greene, 202-777-8316
Nestlé Agrees to Curb Children’s Marketing
Statement of CSPI Nutrition Policy
Director Margo G. Wootan
We applaud Nestlé for setting nutrition standards
for the products it advertises to children under 12. Switching from
promoting Wonka candy to 100 percent juice and low-fat chocolate milk will
be better for children and make it easier for parents to feed their children
healthfully.
Nestlé
had been one of the biggest food companies missing from the Council of
Better Business Bureaus’ Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative.
In
June
, over 30 health organizations
wrote to Nestlé, urging it to change its marketing to children and join
the initiative.
But for the initiative and self-regulation
to work, more major food marketers need to stop marketing junk food to
kids. A number of top marketers have refused to join the initiative
and make a public pledge to improve their marketing, including Chuck E.
Cheese’s, Subway, Yum Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, sponsor of
the Book It! Program for schools), Perfetti Van Melle (maker of Airheads
candies), and Topps (maker of Baby Bottle Pop and other candies).
When the new Congress reconvenes in January,
it should take a fresh look at whether this voluntary initiative is sufficient
to protect children from obesity-promoting advertising.
The Center for Science in the Public
Interest is a nonprofit health advocacy group based in Washington, DC,
that focuses on nutrition, food safety, and pro-health alcohol policies.
CSPI is supported by the 900,000 U.S. and Canadian subscribers to
its Nutrition Action Healthletter and by foundation grants.
