Tony the Tiger on death row?
It's official: Food marketing makes kids fat. Big Food's status as the new Big Tobacco was underlined this week by a study issued by the Institute of Medicine that paints marketing as the evildoer in the childhood obesity debate, exposes the food industry to costly lawsuits like those that slammed the tobacco business, and will force a reassessment of marketing spending, strategy and messaging. The IOM report looks certain to become a rallying cry for the many critics who have linked marketing to kids to the rising incidence of childhood obesity, and it seems to undo-or at least ignore-much of the work that has been done by food marketers to stave off such criticism. ... But any food marketing to kids will have to be carefully scrutinized, as Big Food will now also be exposed to potential lawsuits. One lawyer involved in tobacco cases said that the IOM study will make the food companies easier to attack. ''It certainly opens the marketer up,'' said Richard A. Daynard, an associate dean at Northeastern University School of Law, who has been involved in tobacco litigation and is also readying a case on soft-drink sales in schools. ``At this point they are legally responsible for knowing the consequences of marketing high calorie density to kids.'' Mr. Daynard said the IOM report ``provides support'' for lawsuits though he also said any suits would more likely be state consumer-protection suits to recover costs, rather than the tort cases first filed in the tobacco litigation. In consumer-protection cases plaintiffs could claim advertising messages were unfair or deceptive, with the outcome likely to depend on whether marketers had information suggesting the messages would lead to kids overeating.
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