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General Mills Inc. plans to launch a national ad campaign targeted at children that will tout the health benefits of eating breakfast cereal -- including Trix, Cocoa Puffs and other sugary ones it sells.
The campaign, expected to be announced today, stakes out a potentially controversial stance in the debate over who's responsible for the nation's obesity epidemic, particularly among children. Criticism of heavy marketing to children by Kraft Foods Inc., General Mills and other food companies prompted Kraft this year to stop advertising some of its sweetest cereals to kids.
General Mills, the nation's No. 2 cereal maker behind Kellogg Co. and the largest advertiser to children, hopes that by playing up the benefits of breakfast through ads on programs popular with children it can portray itself as part of the solution, not the problem. "We have a different point of view than Kraft," said Mark Addicks, chief marketing officer of General Mills. "We think that kids should be eating cereal, including pre-sweetened cereal."
The conflicting approaches show how the food industry is casting about for ways to defend itself against criticism that it is making Americans fat. Kellogg has said it believes it markets responsibly and sees no need for change. Other makers have quietly shifted their marketing of some kids' products toward adults and infused new campaigns with messages about exercise. For example, Interstate Bakeries Corp. has refocused kid favorite Hostess Twinkies on the adult market.
General Mills's "Choose Breakfast" campaign will use such ad icons as the Trix bunny and Lucky Charms leprechaun, which will appear on the backs of cereal boxes as part of a new "fitness squad" that will tell kids that breakfast can help them stay focused in the morning and build muscles.
'Have Power, Choose Breakfast' is the tagline of a General Mills spot that promotes cereal as a good start to a kid's day.
The company also will tack 10-second trailers onto the end of its commercials that show kids who claim to have been energized by eating breakfast. General Mills says the campaign isn't intended to push cereal specifically, but breakfast in general. It will cite research, including General Mills's own studies, to argue that kids who eat breakfast perform better in school, have fewer disciplinary problems and are less likely to be obese than kids who eat little or no cereal.
The commercials will air on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network as well as child-oriented programs on other channels. General Mills wouldn't say how much it will spend on the yearlong campaign.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB111940249687466085-IRjgoNglaZ4oJ2qZoCIcKeGm5,00.html
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