Organic Food Chain Bars Products Using Cartoon Characters

  • January 17, 2013

MOM's Organic Market, a 10-store chain in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area, says it's discontinuing carrying products with packages that feature characters from children's books, film and TV, as a stance against using such characters to market to children.

"Marketing to children is wrong and should be illegal," asserted the chain's founder and CEO, Scott Nash, speaking to Progressive Grocer. “Advertising is a shady game. It focuses on creating a shallow emotional attachment instead of pointing out the merits of a product. Unfortunately, it works -- and young children are particularly susceptible."

Susan Linn, director of The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, lauded MOM's move. 

But Elizabeth Pivonka, president and CEO of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, said she deemed it "a bit rash" to eliminate all foods with characters on their packaging, "since some of these characters are being marketed on foods that we should be eating more of, specifically fruit and vegetables.”

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