Press Releases
Kids Spoon-Fed Marketing and Advertising for Least Healthy Breakfast Cereals: Researchers Release Cereal Rankings Based on Nutrition and Marketing Exposure
10/26/09
The least healthy breakfast cereals are those most frequently and aggressively marketed directly to children as young as age two, finds a new study from Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The researchers' evaluation of cereal marketing, the first such study of its kind, shows pervasive targeting of children across all media platforms and in stores.
In The News
Selected Articles
General Mills reducing sugar in kids' cereal
12/9/09
General Mills — the maker of Lucky Charms, Trix and Cocoa Puffs — plans to reduce the amount of sugar in its cereals marketed to children. The move comes as many food companies alter their products and face growing scrutiny from consumers, regulators and health groups over the nutritional value of their foods.
Associated Press
Monday Morning Mix
12/7/09
Popular blogger, Kelly the Kitchen Kop, highlighted Cereal FACTS in a discussion on breakfast cereals for children.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Report Shows Least Nutritious Cereals Are Heavily Marketed to Children
10/28/09
A new study by researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity suggests that the least healthy cereals are most aggressively marketed to children, Time magazine reports. Researchers reviewed cereal from 115 brands, identifying 19 that were marketed directly to children on television, the Internet or through licensed characters, such as Dora the Explorer.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Marketing of Unhealthy Cereals to Kids 'Staggering': Yale Study
10/27/09
The least-healthy breakfast cereals are the ones most aggressively marketed directly to children as young as age two, according to a new study from Yale University in New Haven, CT. The study found that cereals marketed directly to children have 85 per cent more sugar, 65 per cent less fiber and 60 per cent more sodium than cereals marketed to adults.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Want to Know Just How Sugary Your Kid's Cereal Is? What About Your Own?
10/27/09
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups rock. No question. And a whole lot of campers rightly appreciate a good s'more now and then. But then, these are desserts or snacks or treats or whatever you want to call them, not meals. Not for most people. General Mills' Reese's Puffs and Kellogg's Smorz on the other hand pass themselves off -- quite blatantly -- as meals for children. So do many of their kin. And that irritates the researchers at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
LA Times Blogs
Study: Cereal Ads Fuel Childhood Obesity
10/26/09
A new report warns that most cereals advertised to kids are packed with sugar, which is fueling childhood obesity in the U.S. A study by the Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity blasts the nutritional value of some of the most advertised kids' cereals.
ABC 7
Study Slams Industry-Regulated Marketing of Kids’ Cereals
10/26/09
Industry regulation of which cereals are marketed to children allows the least healthy products to be advertised most aggressively, according to a study from Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
Food Navigator
Yale Study: Sugar + Cereal = Marketing to Kids
10/26/09
Sugar + sodium - fiber = a recipe for marketing cereal to children. According to a news study from Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, the least healthy cereals are those most aggressively marketed directly to children, including TV ads, online game and in-store displays.
Fox 9 Health
Study: Least Healthy Cereals Most Marketed to Children
10/26/09
Six hundred and forty-two times a year. That is how often the average American preschooler sees an advertisement for cereal, according to a new study by Yale University. So it puts things in perspective when the same study says that cereals with the biggest marketing push also happen to be among the least nutritious, when analyzed using a nutrient profiling system developed at Oxford University.
ABC
Which cereals do companies push hardest? The sugary ones!
10/26/09
Companies may argue that sugary cereals are good because they encourage kids to drink milk, but the Rudd Center researchers have shown that kids are happy to eat non-sweetened cereals. Furthermore, if they add their own sugar, they are putting in less than the cereal companies put in.
Food Politics
Kids' Cereals: 85% More Sugar, 65% Less Fiber than Adults'
10/25/09
A new study confirms what savvy consumers have long suspected: Most breakfast cereals advertised to kids are chockfull of sugar and low on fiber.
USA Today
Sweet Spot: How Sugary Cereal Makers Target Kids
10/23/09
Before food politics became a Wikipedia entry and the title of a book, before anyone cared about trans fat or realized we were in the midst of a pediatric-obesity epidemic, Lucky Charms were simply magically delicious. Now the cereal, along with other childhood favorites like Corn Pops and Cocoa Pebbles, is being labeled a public-health menace by health researchers at Yale University.
Time magazine - Bonnie Rochman
Media Clips
Experts Sound Off on Cereal
12/10/09
The cereal giant General Mills has announced it will cut back the amount of sugar in 10 popular kids' cereals to single-digit grams of sugar per serving. "This is a historic announcement -- it comes on the heels of an investigation by the Connecticut attorney general and the FDA of the 'Smart Choices' program and our own Cereal Report," Rudd Center Director, Kelly D. Brownell, said.
ABC Good Morning America
A Box a Day? Critics Blast Cereal Immunity Claims
11/3/09
The Today Show reviews cereal marketing practices to children and gets expert opinion from Kelly D. Brownell, who was interviewed for the segment. Cereal FACTS findings were also reported.
The Today Show
Couric's Notebook Nag: Don't Let Cereal Cartoons Parent Your Kids
11/2/09
CBS "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric took to her Notebook vlog to nag parents about the need to keep their kids away from the siren song of sugary cereals. She cites the Rudd Center's Cereal FACTS report.
NewsBusters
Study: Many Cereals Have Way Too Much Sugar
10/26/09
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, children's cereal may not be worth the time it takes to pour it. A study from Yale University takes a close look at all those cereals aimed at children and finds they contain too much sugar and too little fiber.
CBS Denver
Marketing Unhealthy Cereal to Kids
10/26/09
Cereal FACTS findings are discussed on Good Morning America. Rudd Center Director, Kelly D. Brownell is featured in the segment.
ABC Good Morning America
Study: Least Healthy Cereals Sold to Kids
10/25/09
Key Cereal FACTS findings are highlighted in this ABC exclusive. Kelly D. Brownell talks about food industry marketing practices and the failure of self-regulatory pledges.
ABC World News
