Food marketers are bracing for another potential onslaught of criticism this week as a much-anticipated report on the impact of advertising on childhood obesity is released by the Institute of
Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. No matter what it says, the report is expected to add fuel to a firestorm of debate over whether ads for products like cereal and cookies make
kids overweight. Food companies spend $10 billion to $12 billion each year to market Cocoa Puffs cereal, Keebler cookies and other foods to kids, and critics claim some of these ads have contributed
to an epidemic of obesity in U.S. children. Some have even called for government regulation of kids' advertising. In the late 1970s, following a government report on food marketing to children, the
Federal Trade Commission considered but ultimately decided against regulating ads aimed at kids. Today, food companies want to maintain their own advertising police force--led by the Children's
Advertising Review Unit, a group funded by food, toy and other companies that market to children. As such, the companies will scour the institute's report for any evidence that marketing isn't a major
obesity culprit, and will seize any praise for their recent efforts to promote healthy products.
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