• NY Times, Thursday, January 19, 2006 12:30 PM

A group of consumer advocates are after SpongeBob Square Pants, claiming the cartoon character is bad for kids because he endorses junk food. At a news conference in Washington yesterday, the groups said they planned to file a lawsuit against Viacom, which makes the Sponge Bob TV show, and cereal maker Kellogg, which features the character on cereal packaging. They said the suit will argue that using cartoon characters to sell to children is deceptive and unfair. "It's unfair because kids under five don't even know it's a commercial," said Stephen Gardner, director of litigation for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "They think it's a very short SpongeBob program. And it's unfair because at a very important time in their physical and psychological development, kids are being encouraged to eat food that is just not good for them." Kellogg responded by saying it had a "longstanding commitment to marketing in a responsible manner." A Viacom spokesman said criticisms of the company were unfounded because Viacom had recently undertaken a number of initiatives intended to promote healthy eating and address the problem of childhood obesity.

Read the whole story at NY Times »