Investigation of Food Products marketed to children May/June 2005 Stockholm’s Co-operative Consumer Society is a joint-owner of the Kooperativa Förbundet (The Swedish Co-operative Union), which through Coop Norden operates the consumer co-operatives in Sweden. The role of the society is to represent and strengthen consumer rights.
For more information: Louise Ungerth, Head of Consumer and Environmental Affairs, +46 8 714 39 71, + 46 70 341 55 30 Ulrika Lamberth, Press Officer, + 46 8714 39 72, + 46 70341 55 31 www.konsumentforeningenstockholm.se
Summary In May/June 2005, Konsumentföreningen Stockholm (KfS – Stockholm’s Co-operative Consumer Society) investigated 55 food products that are marketed to children in grocery stores (soft drinks, chips, fruit drinks, and ice cream were not included in the survey). The purpose of the study was to look at the entire market in order to follow changes in the products’ nutritional contents and the companies’ future marketing strategies. Points of view from the KfS Parents jury were presented to the food industry in winter of 2004/2005. • •
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Breakfast cereals are the food most frequently marketed to children in Sweden, followed by dairy products, for example, milk drinks, medium-fat milk, flavored milk, cream cheese, and yogurt. Of the breakfast cereals investigated, all but three contained 20 percent or more of some type of sugar. Most contained 30-50 percent of some type of sugar and had low fiber contents. Just about all of the 17 dairy products studied were sweetened. All of the cookies and crackers in the investigation (9 varieties) were sweet and fatty, with low fiber contents. During the last year, several companies made changes in their product assortment; for example, they decreased the amount of sugar and increased the fiber content. They also made certain changes in their marketing. However, KfS believes that much more remains to be done. KfS believes that food products intended for children must meet a high nutritional standard, with high fiber content and low quantities of fat, salt, and sugar. KfS believes that the food industry and grocery stores must improve the nutritional content of products intended for children and discontinue marketing with toys and collectors’ items in cereal boxes. All package labeling must list the product’s complete nutritional value. The industry’s ethical rules for marketing to children should be tightened. KfS believes that the government should work to introduce obligatory, easy-to-understand nutritional labeling on all foods. This would make it easier for consumers to select wholesome foods. • KfS believes that the government should increase its investment in research into what makes children, youth, and adults alter their eating habits. KfS also believes that the government should invest more in educating parents about diet and health. In spite of KfS’s criticism of certain phenomena on the market, we do not believe that legislation regarding the advertising of sweet, fatty foods to children is the right way to decrease overweight in children, apart from what,s already said in the Swedish marketing law and the ICCs rules of marketing of food to children. The marketing is not extensive enough to warrant legislative action. Furthermore, it would be difficult to define the line between the marketing directed to children and youth and the marketing directed to adults. In all likelihood, the stores’ bulk discounts and displays of candy and soft drinks drive sales more than the advertisements in comic books or websites do. Sweden has a ban on TV advertising to children under the age of 12.
Read more about the Parents Jury on p. 19.
The survey’s scope KfS surveyed the food products that are marketed directly to children during May and June 2005. The survey comprised foods sold at ICA, COOP, Axfood, Lidl, and Nettos grocery stores, located primarily in the Stockholm area. KfS looked at the nutritional labeling and package design of 54 products and, where appropriate, the websites listed on the packaging. Several of the products included in the survey were studied on two previous occasions, namely, in the summer of 2004 and in January 2005.
Demarcations The survey applies to all foods directed to children, with the exception of candy, soft drinks, fruit drinks, ice cream, and chips.
General overview of the results Foods that were marketed to children, May and June 2005 • • • •
Breakfast cereals are the product that is most frequently marketed to children in Sweden. Nine companies market 28 different breakfast cereals specifically to children. Nine dairies market 17 products to children. These include milk drinks, medium-fat milk, flavored milk, cream cheese, yogurt, chocolate pudding, and a dessert. Five companies market nine different types of crackers, cookies, and energy bars to children. One company markets liver pâté to children.
Nutritional value
Breakfast cereals • • • •
All the cereal favorites except for three contained 20 percent or more of some type of sugar. Most contained 30–50 percent. Since the autumn of 2004, the sugar content in a very few products has been reduced. All the breakfast cereals contain 347–450 kcal per 100 g. Most contain 370–390 kcal. (Recommended serving size: 30 g.) In general, the fiber content was low, ca. 1–3 g per 100 g. One of the products contained 14.5 g of fiber per 100 g; four products contained 6–8 g of fiber. The other 23 products contained less than 6 g of fiber. The fat content was relatively low in all the cereals, with the exception of two, which contained 10 and 18 g per 100 g, respectively.
Dairy products • • • • •
All the products were sweetened, with the exception of two brands of medium-fat milk. In the last six months, several dairies have decreased the amount of sugar in their yogurt, from ca. 8-10 percent to 6-8 percent. Two dairies have replaced the sugar in yogurt and cream cheese with fruit sugar or fruit purées and dextrose. However, the number of calories in the products has not changed significantly, since other sweeteners were used. The calorie count is still relatively high. The calorie count in yogurt/cream cheese/desserts aimed at children is between 80-172 kcal per 100 g. The fat content is between 1.3–6.6 g per 100 g but as a rule, it is closer to 2–3 g. Milk drinks contain 45–65 kcal and ca.1.5 g fat per 100 g.
Cookies, crackers, and energy bars • •
All the cookies, crackers, and energy bars studied were high in calories, sugar, and fat, but low in fiber. Six of the nine products did not have nutritional labels on their packaging. A cracker is marketed with the text “contains whole wheat” on the package. The product only contained 12 percent whole wheat.
Marketing on packaging
Breakfast cereals •
Eleven cereal boxes contained toys, collectors’ items, CD-ROMs or similar products and/or directed customers to video games, contests, and collectors’ items on their websites. Often, the manufacturer collaborates with a movie company prior to the launch of a children’s movie or video.
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All but three of the remaining cereal boxes contained rebuses, games, puzzles, or something similar for the child to cut out from the back of the box. Some manufacturers had different packaging for the same cereal on the market at the same time. Twelve breakfast cereals had some type of information about diet and health on the packaging. Seven of these cereals were among the sweetest on the market at the time of the study.
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Dairy products •
Dairy products with cartoon characters on the packaging are marketed to children but, for the most part, without other offers for collectors’ items or similar things. One dairy collaborated with a movie company. One diary has a highly developed website for children. It also markets its products through children’s advertising on TV3. Three dairies have clubs and websites for children. Information on the clubs and websites are available on the packaging. All dairies that sell milk, with the exception of one, have special information aimed at children and youth on their websites, including recipes, contests, games, items to order, and the like.
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Crackers, cookies, and energy bars • •
The products have cartoon characters on the packaging. Some attach comic books, etc. “Byggare Bob” [Bob the Builder], a popular children’s program, is aired on TV 4. Byggare Bob is now marketed on crackers, and his picture appears on the packaging.
Liver pâté •
One brand of liver pâté, with somewhat less liver and somewhat more fat than the company’s regular pâtés is marketed to children.
Developments: 2004-2005 The intense media debate regarding increased obesity in adults and children has affected food consumption; for example, sales of sweet breakfast cereals and fruit yogurt have decreased. In the last year, several companies have made some changes in both the nutritional content and the marketing of some of their products. Several examples follow: • •
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Kellogg launched “Frosties,” with a third less sugar. Kellogg launched “Rice Krispies Multigrain,” with more fiber but also more sugar than regular Rice Krispies. COOP launched a new breakfast cereal, Choko Spooks. The back of the box contains the following text: “This product contains a substantial amount of sugar. Therefore, it is a good idea to vary your diet by consuming other breakfast foods that contain less sugar.” The text is also on the packaging of other COOP breakfast cereals that cater to children. In July 2005, Quaker Oats launched Kalaspuffar with “25% less sugar.” Several dairies have decreased the sugar content somewhat in their products. Kellogg’s Frosties has a website, www.frosties.nu, with information on skateboarding.
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For Kalaspuffar, Quaker Oats has substituted a game that children can cut out from the back
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of the box for collectors’ items. They have also initiated a collaborative project on swimming, as well as on winning badges, with the Svenska Simförbundet [Swedish Swimming Society]. Some boxes of Nestlé’s Cheerios have information about diet and health. However, the others market collectors’ items, such as Legoridare and Superhjältar. Axfood has removed the figures that used to be on Eldorado’s cornflakes box.
Conclusion KfS concluded that a lot of positive changes occurred in 2004/2005. Some companies accepted KfS’s demands for more nutritious content and changed their marketing of foods aimed at children. However, much more could be done. It is primarily the big suppliers who have improved the nutritional content of their breakfast cereals. Most of the cereals manufactured by grocery store chains still have too much sugar and too little fiber. We can also report that the number of toys, games, and collectors’ items included in the packaging has decreased and that the amount of diet and health information on packaging has increased. In conversations with companies, most of them disclosed that additional, positive improvements could be expected in the fall of 2006. KfS will follow these developments with interest and present its next report in the summer of 2006.
Appendix 3 – Examples of marketing to children, May/June 2005 Kellogg’s Coco Pops Nutritional content: Sugar: 37 g; fat: 3 g; fiber: 2 g (per 100 g)
On the front of the box, Kellogg’s tempts children with this text: “Surprises in the box.” The back of the box encourages children to play Croco and Coco at www.Kelloggsby.nu. On the website, children are tempted to “Download Coco’s music!” and “Watch the exciting movie featuring Croco and Coco.” Other texts on the website: “Tell us what you find in the box. Collect Croco spoons and Croco pen tops.” “Four different jungle games – your job: collect Coco Pops packs.” “Eat delicious Coco Pops.”
Nestlé’s Nesquik Nutritional content: Sugar: 37.8 g; fat: 5.1 g; fiber: 3 g (per 100 g)
On the back of the Nesquik box, Nestlé informs children that fruit tastes good and nutritious, with texts such as: “What is colorful and tastes great and is also good for you? Fruit, of course!” And, “Hey, some fruits taste just as good as candy!” On the box, there is a food pyramid with a text that explains the advantages of eating balanced meals. On the side of the same package, Nesquik advertises a breakfast cereal that is even sweeter than Nesquik, namely Lion, with 39.1 g sugar, 9.6 g fat, and 1.7 g fiber. It says, “Now with wheat and oat flour.” This could give the consumer the impression that the cereal is rich in fiber, which it is not.
Quaker Oats’ Kalas Puffar Nutritional content: Sugar: 47 g; fat: 3 g; fiber: 3 g (per 100 g) Quaker Oats markets its Kalas Puffar by tempting children with the CD-ROM game Honey Monster Mountain Rescue, “with harder and harder tasks.” Children can collect three differentcolored CDs. In July 2005, the sugar content was lowered by 25 percent and instead of a CD-ROM, there is now a game to cut out of the box. According to information from the manufacturer, a sugar-free version of Kalas Puffar will be in the stores this fall.
Nestlé’s Cheerios Nutritional content: Sugar: 21.7 g; fat: 4 g; fiber: 6.7 g (per 100 g) In January 2005, Nestlé marketed its Cheerios with such invitations as “Superhjälte in the box – collect all eight.” Now, the back of the box contains information on whole wheat instead.
COOP’s Choko Spooks Nutritional content: Sugar: 25 g; fat: 3 g; fiber: 3.5 g (per 100 g)
COOP has the following text on its Choko Spooks packaging: “Choko Spooks contain a lot of sugar. Therefore, it is a good idea to vary your breakfast with other products that contain less sugar.” The text is also on COOP’s other cereals for children.
ICA’s Honungspuffar Nutritional content: Fat: 3.3 g (per 100 g). No information is available on either the sugar or fiber content. ICA writes “Begin the day wide-awake” on its Honugspuffar. It is impossible to tell how much sugar the cereal contains by reading the package, but according to information received from the manufacturer, it contains 42 percent sugar per 100 g.
Lidl’s Golden Puffs Nutritional content: Sugar: 38.8 g; fat: 2 g; fiber: 5.2 g (per 100 g). Lidl markets its Golden Puffs by, among things, putting a food circle on the back of the box. The food circle could give the impression that the cereal is nutritious, which it is not.
Appendix 4 – Parents’ opinions from the KfS parent panel
In the fall of 2004, KfS instituted a Parents Jury2 in which parents from among KfS members gave their opinions, via surveys on the Internet, on consumer questions that deal with children. One of the first questions to the panel dealt with how parents experience the marketing of foods to children. A short summary of this survey results follows: •
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The parent panel does not want sweet and fatty foods to be marketed to children. Forty-two percent of the panel thinks that there should be an advertising-free zone around children and 45 percent think that it is OK to market to children as a target group if the food in question is good and nutritious. Ten percent think that marketing is good the way it is, and three percent had no opinion. Eighty percent have somewhat or very negative feelings regarding the “toys in the bargain” advertising that often appears in comic books and on cereal boxes.
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Eighty percent have somewhat or very negative feelings regarding advertising for Spiderman or Disney movies on food packaging aimed at children, for example.
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Eighty percent think that is somewhat bad or very bad to put collectors’ items in food packaging.
The results of the Parents Jury were presented to the cereal manufacturers and several dairies and grocery store chains in the winter of 2004/2005. The branch organization Livsmedelsföretagen [approx. translation: Food Industry Enterprise] also received these results on a number of occasions. Table1: The parent panel was asked this question: Many companies market their food products directly to young children through pictures on the packaging. What is your opinion of packaging with pictures that are addressed directly to children?
10%
Acceptable for healthy food, e.g. milk.
3%
45%
Children should be in a commercialfree zone Current conditions are acceptable
42% No opinion
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Read more about the parent panel at www.foraldrajuryn.se All of the results are available at www.foraldrajuryn.se
