Companies pledge to focus on 'betterfor you' standards

Newsboy photo/ Sharon Kerr JUNK FOOD AND COMPUTERS lead children away from outdoor activities and regular exercise.

The Better Business Bureau's council has announced 11 pledges from food and beverage companies have been approved under the CBBB's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative recently.

The pledges were announced at "Weighing In: A Check-Up on Marketing, Self-Regulation, and Childhood Obesity," a joint forum hosted by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Health and Human Services.

The initiative has approved pledges for Cadbury Adams, Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Hershey, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, Mars, McDonald's, PepsiCo, and Unilever. These companies account for an estimated two-thirds of children's food and beverage television advertising.

"In 2005, FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt challenged the advertising industry to review and strengthen industry self-regulation of children's food advertising in light of the growing concern about childhood obesity in our nation," said Michael Clayton, President/CEO of the Better Business Bureau in Southeast Texas.

"These companies have pledged to focus essentially all of their advertising primarily directed to children under 12 on products meeting better-for-you standards or refrain from advertising to that age group," Clayton said.

Elaine D. Kolish, Director of the BBB's Initiative, said, "Collectively these pledges will improve the mix of foods advertised to children under 12 and reduce the number of food advertisements run by participating companies," said Kolish. "For example, these commitments effectively limit participating companies' advertising of snack foods and other food products to those that meet new or existing better-for-you nutrition criteria, and limit the advertising of cereals to those with 12 or fewer grams of sugar per serving."

Participants agreed to devote at least half of their advertising to promoting healthier dietary choices or healthy lifestyles. Company commitments based on better-for-you dietary choices are required to be consistent with established scientific and/or government standards. The BBB will monitor and publicly report on the companies' compliance with their pledges.

To view the pledges each company has made, visit the BBB's website at www.bbbsetexas. org.

Expanded BBB reliability reports are available by phone and online in English and Spanish. Check out a company or charity in southeast Texas, the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico before you buy or give at www.bbbsetexas.org or www.give.org. Or you may call 409-835-5348 or 800-685- 7650 24-hours a day.