Sources used in this document:

Of course, to be fair to the Kellogg's company, in print, its popular television cereal advertising is also hardly guilt-free in its targeting of children, either in terms of the sugar rush it purports to provide, or its supposed health. Kellogg's in print promises Jedi strength in a cake masquerading as breakfast. Kellogg's on the television promises the strength and fortitude of a tiger to children, as it depicts Tony the Tiger roaring away, fighting rapids with strength and dexterity, fueled by the morning power of corn flakes spackled with sugar. This advertisement has become even more deceitful because the company has been stressing that the cereal now contains less sugar. But merely because the sugar is reduced does not mean that the levels of sugar consumed in a meal of Frosted Flakes are on par with the sugar levels that are acceptable for young children in the morning to have a good and healthy start for their school day, much less navigating white water rapids at camp. The roaring, powerfully endowed Tony, one might add, is even funnier to contemplate when one considers that tigers and cats are carnivores, animals that eat other animals for protein in the morning, hardly sugary grains. (http://www.kelloggs.com/brand/ttt/flash.html) The healthy breakfast pictured in the advertisements on television contain milk and juice not contained within the box, and the cereal is not nearly as well fortified with vitamins and minerals, even compared with more adult cereal products made by the same company.

Internet advertising: A sweet tooth is encouraged online

Finally, even the Internet has come to bear in encouraging children to eat poorly nourishing food that contains sugar, without any information about the likely consequences of such a diet, even in terms of the children's morning energy levels. The use of the Internet to advertise the children-targeted cereals of Kellogg's is perhaps most insidious of all, as it contains tie-ins to popular 'play book' promotional advertisements. (http://www.kelloggsfunktown.com/funktown/NoFlash.htm) The viewer is told that he or she can earn his or her Frosted Flake tiger stripes, by buying as many boxes of cereal as he or she can, and thus become like soccer star Mia Ham, or other popular athletes endorsing the product. By implying that athletes find a healthy breakfast in the form of a bowl of sugar encrusted cereal, children receive a confused, mixed message about nutrition at best, and at worst, the information misleads them from real data about truly healthy substances that could nourish their growing bodes. Children's palates are thus formulated at an early age to prefer sugar, encouraged to surf the Internet for fake competitions bought by eating cereal rather than exercising their bodies athletically outdoors, and the act of eating more for tiger stripes and points is encouraged, rather than eating to grow healthy bones, or not eating when one is not hungry.