Shrek\'s Mixed Messages
Kids love Shrek. That\'s why the Department of Health & Human Services and the Ad Council thought he\'d be a great spokes-ogre to raise awareness about childhood obesity. They\'ve produced ads (featuring animation by Shrek studio DreamWorks) that urge kids to exercise an hour a day. There\'s just one hitch: Shrek\'s lovability also means he\'s the perfect go-to ogre for selling Snickers and M&Ms, Sierra Mist, Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Pop-Tarts, Cheez-Its, and Keebler cookies. Oh, and don\'t forget McDonald\'s, which will offer Shrek 3 Happy Meal promo tie-ins. Um, last time we looked, doesn\'t eating this kind of junk food increase the chances of becoming overweight?

 

Children\'s advocacy group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is asking the Department of Health and Human Services to recall their front guy, saying that the soon-to-be-released movie has too many promotional ties with unhealthy foods to justify using Shrek as a health advocate.

 

"There is an inherent conflict of interest between marketing junk food and promoting public health," CCFC Director Susan Linn (an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School) wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt. "Surely Health and Human Services can find a better spokesperson for healthy living than a character who is a walking advertisement for McDonald\'s, sugary cereals, cookies, and candy."

 

HHS spokesman Bill Hall said the department had no intention of halting the public service ads.

 

As parents, we know that our kids are sitting ducks for celebrities hawking product tie-ins. But we\'re far less convinced that meaningful behavioral change can happen as a result of a few cute ads. Frankly, the exercise information will probably be dwarfed by the sheer number of tie-in products anyway. "Why would young children follow Shrek\'s advice about healthy living and ignore his entreaties to eat Happy Meals and Pop-Tarts?" Linn asks. Good question.

 

So, parents, be on the lookout for both kinds of ads. Explain to your kids the two different messages. And while supporting the need for exercise to stay healthy, point out that the junk food tie-ins undercut the other message. The more we raise ad awareness in our kids, the better -- and healthier -- their choices will be.

 

For more info on marketing junk food to kids, check out our video tips.