WaterFilter.com

Cartoon Marketing Turns Healthy

Food forums have raised many a discussion on the "difficulty" to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables. Some parents respond saying their kids have no problem eating fruits and vegetables and like them, while others do look for ways to help their kids get the nutrition they need. The question has been raised whether or not societal stigmas are to blame for this problem of unhealthy eating by kids. Perhaps kids are just meeting expectations, or trying to fit in, by not "liking" fruits or vegetables. If a parent expects that a kid might prefer a cookie to an apple, and has one on hand, it's likely the kid may choose the cookie - because they are expected to. While man-made products such as cupcakes and cookies have been loaded with sugar may be appeasing to kids, other parents suggest that the media is to blame for marketing such snack foods to kids more often than healthy choices.

Well, kid-friendly brands like Nickelodeon and Disney have been fighting back, trying to put their famous cartoon characters on healthier foods like fruits and vegetables instead. Nickelodeon, owned by Viacom, just announced they joined the "help kids make healthy choices" bandwagon by restricting its cartoon characters from being found on any sort of junk food, according Reuters article. Nickelodeon characters such as Sponge Bob Square Pants, Jimmy Neutron or the Rugrats will only be used as marketing tools for foods that meet their advised dietary guidelines. Sponge Bob Square Pants now circulates the vegetable aisles instead of snack aisles, as he has been found on snack packs of baby carrots, and other vegetables. However, Nickelodeon still plans to license their characters to be used on holiday treats or snacks like Valentine's Day chocolates, for example.

Whereas Nickelodeon is restricting its licensing of characters, Disney has released its own whole line of Disney Garden products that include a number of bagged fruits and vegetables like cut up apple slices and even cauliflower. Disney Garden hopes to help kids make healthier choices by choosing their fruits and vegetables. They hope to make the lives of parents easier by creating some incentive to want these fruits and vegetables with their characters. Their Web site offers recipe ideas for kids, as well as hints and tips for parents to help their kids make healthier choices.

But, who benefits more from these relatively new marketing ploys? Have parents fallen to a trap where they buy these products to unsuccessfully appeal to their kids, or have kids actually now been eating their vegetables? In other words, is this "humanitarian" effort really just putting more money in the pockets of Viacom and Disney, or is it actually helping kids to become healthier? Maybe a little bit of both.

Food blogger Kate Hopkins of Accidental Hedonist believes these new marketing concepts have kept public school systems out of the know. Kids are surrounded by food choices while at school, and the school system has a large bearing on what food choices are the right ones to make, as well as what foods show up in vending machines, etc. Questions such as these raise further issues as to what's behind these new marketing schemes.

All in all, these efforts can't necessarily hurt much, unless you're an adult forced to eat Sponge Bob Square Pants carrots instead of a regular old bag of carrots, like me :)

Sources: Reuters Accidental Hedonist Imagination Farms Viacom Company

Hillary Marshak is a writer and editor for http://Recipe4Living.com, an up and coming recipe sharing Website. For more articles like this, or for a large collection of recipes, visit the site at http://www.Recipe4Living.com.

MORE ARTICLES:

How to Turn Water into Lemonade by Giving a Flavored Answer to a Fruitless Question
I remember the first time I opened the fridge to get a drink of water and accidentally grabbed the wrong pitcher..

Rain Bird Opens Call for 2008 Intelligent Use of Water(TM) Award Nominations: Second Annual Award Seeks Nominations of "Difference-Makers" Whose L
Rain Bird Corporation, the leading manufacturer and provider of irrigation products and services, is seeking nominations for the 2008 Intelligent Use of Water Award, which recognizes persons or organizations whose innovation, leadership, ingenuity and overall commitment to improved landscape water efficiency has raised the standard for outdoor water conservation.

I Would Say That There Are No Better Way To Clean Mattress Apart From To Vacuum Clean It.
I would say that there are no better way to clean mattress apart from to vacuum clean it. This is because if you use other way to clean it, especially to wash it or use other method that use water, mold may rise in the mattress layers if moisture remains in the mattress. Using mattress pads are the better option for keeping a mattress spotless and safe from stains and moisture that may go from spills and accidents.

Petroquest Resources, Inc. Announces Conversion of Oil and Gas Well Into a Brine Water Disposal Well
PetroQuest Resources, Inc., (Computer Pink Sheets:PQRJ.PK), announced today that its controlled entity, Advanced Brine Disposal Services, LLC., is purchasing a non-producing oil and gas well situated in Vinton County, Ohio from Mountaineer Gas Transmission, Inc., one of PetroQuest?s wholly owned subsidiaries.

Home water filters: Gives you pure and tasty water
Nature has provided us distinctive planet to live in and our planet ? Earth - is clearly unique from other planets due to the presence of water. Having right distance from Sun and other stars, this allows our planet to have a life supporting environment and water. And it?s true that presence of water will always remain extremely important for life to prosper on Earth. But the major concern is that the condition of pure water is deteriorating day by day due to relentless industrialization. And now to expect pure water from available water resources has become a thing of past.

What Is In Your Camping Water?
If you are a camper, you may already know that the water is probably unsafe to drink. Generally, campgrounds get their water from a well in the ground and you can bet, it's not filtered. But that doesn't mean you can't have safe water for cooking and drinking while enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

Keep Your Personal Checking Account Clean and Keep Your Arm and Leg
Maintaining your family finances can be a difficult task, but a positive relationship with your banker will help. Taking control and responsibility will come back to lend a hand you when you need it.

Replacement Sofa Slipcovers Can Instantly Give Your Home A Fresh New Image
Giving you home an instant makeover can be as simple are replacing your sofa slipcovers. The beauty of furniture slipcovers is that they can be changed whenever you feel like a new look.

Guided Healthy Living Series Endorsed by Wellcoaches
Series of Healthy Living coaching programs-in-a-guide are endorsed by standard-setting wellness, fitness and health coaching organization.

TruKid's All-Natural Skincare Line Offers Healthy Alternatives to Potentially Toxic Products for Kids
Recent news exposing brand name products for their harmful ingredients highlight the fact that safe skincare products for kids and parents is a critical issue. Some popular product lines contain skin irritants, carcinogens and organ sensitizers. These chemicals may be linked to breast tumors, early puberty in girls, reproductive problems and urinary tract infections.

Pure Water and Employee Productivity in the Federal Government Workplace
Nowhere is employee productivity more important than in the Federal Government.

Life-Saving Clean-Water Project Secures $13m from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The fight against water-borne disease -- one of the most serious threats to child health in developing countries -- will receive a major boost thanks to groundbreaking work by an international consortium led by the University of Bristol and supported by a $13 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm).

MedWell Healthy Comfort Foods Make Losing Weight Easy, From Dr. Barry Sears
Dr. Barry Sears, bestselling author of "The Zone" and Chairman of MedWell Foods, launched patented MedWell 1-2-3 healthy comfort foods based on Harvard Medical School dietary recommendations. Available online at www.medwell123.com or by calling 866-633-7898.

i3Solutions.net is Revolutionizing the Way Credit Report Repair, Credit Restoration and Clean Credit is Managed : New Patent Pending Technology Uses
i3Solutions.net today announced S.O.S. - Score Optimization System, the latest technology in the credit repair industry. As one of the credit repair pioneers and industry leaders over the last decade in delivering mortgage professionals and their clients with more loan opportunities, i3 Solutions has developed an entirely new way of streamlining a true partnership providing lenders and mortgage professionals across the country with what they require for their clients but are lacking in today?s marketplace, a credit score providing all of their clients with the ability to obtain their mortgage goals regardless of their current credit history.