In some cosmic coincidence, on the same day I found out about Disney eggs, I also had to go to the grocery store to get a snack to take to Nate’s school tomorrow. Maybe it was because I had just read about Disney’s new venture into farming, but it suddenly seemed licensed cartoon characters were everywhere.
So there we are, in the dairy aisle of Shop-Rite, looking for some sort of yogurt to feed 11 five-year-olds. No Stonyfield Farms Squeezers. All the other tube yogurts had high fructose corn syrup and corn starch, which, I patiently explained to Nate, is icky and doesn’t belong in yogurt (and yes, I am certain the other shoppers were rolling their eyes). But Nate wasn’t listening….
He picked up Dora smoothies. Then Danimals smoothies. Then Trix yogurt. Then Scooby-Doo yogurt. Our usual Stonyfield yogurt in containers was right there, but Nate was blinded by cartoon marketing. When I nixed all his choices, he moved on to the Scooby-Doo cheddar cheese snacks, which, I’ll admit, we purchased.
Blurring the line between entertainment and food has several implications:
Children get the idea that they need to have their own special food
Media conglomerates have infiltrated virtually every aisle of the supermarket with the intent of marketing products directly to children and to parents who start to believe that they need special “kids food” for their children.
Do we? Not really.
Virtually any product you would buy with a character on it can be purchased in a regular version. Do cartoon characters entice children to eat certain foods? I don’t know. But I do know that kids don’t need to be enticed into eating yogurt, mac and cheese, crackers, cookies, juice, etc.
The imagination monopoly these characters have on our children is perpetuated
Cartoon characters such as Dora, Diego, or any Disney princess appear on any product you could want to purchase: clothes, bedding, toys, video games, books, toothbrushes, furniture, shampoo…. Maybe mealtime is a good place to give kids a break from the media marketing storm.
Our children’s health is impacted through over-processed and additive-filled foods
Take a look at what the “kid’s food” usually is: snacks, treats, yogurt-like products, highly-processed heat-and-eat food.
Of course, now Disney is taking it one step further with their Disney Eggs. I can’t imagine what a Disney Farm is like, but free-range, grass-fed, and organic are not ideals that come to mind. One more giant factory farm feeding chickens corn grown with petroleum-based pesticides. Just what we need. However, I digress. The point is that children don’t need eggs wrapped in Disney packaging and stamped with Disney characters, and cooked in the shape of Mickey Mouse. And as parents, we don’t need to spend the extra money to purchase these eggs. If you have extra money in your budget for eggs, make it free-range, organically fed eggs from a local farm. Please.
Our wallets are hit: branded products and “kid’s” products cost more
Compare the cost of kids yogurt to buying a big tub of yogurt and dishing it out into a bowl (or reusable container for school lunches). (Plus there is the added benefit of less waste.)
Many kids products come in a smaller size but cost the same or more as the regular version. Check out kids yogurt or smoothies or boxes of crackers or cookies for example.
Buying a “kids” version and an “adult” version of the same food just adds additional cost to your food bill.
While it would make life easier if licensed characters didn’t show up on food marketed to kids, I don’t see it happening. And, quite frankly, there are bigger issues with the food system that should be resolved first. But I do agree with Marion Nestle: “If food is nourishing and well prepared, it is entertainment enough and doesn’t need cartoons to entice kids to eat.” She calls for a boycott of food with cartoon characters which, today’s Scooby-Doo cheese purchase aside, I plan to wholeheartedly support.
As parents, we should all strive to feed our children and ourselves the most nutritious food we can. That means food, not “food.” If we take the time to read the ingredients of the food we buy, and, in fact, buy more ingredients to make our own food, we can make the best choices possible.
And even though it can be incredibly difficult to say no to a child clamoring for SpongeBob mac and cheese, Dora smoothies, or, yes, Scooby-Doo cheese snacks, we should fight the battle. While I fully believe it’s okay to say yes to a treat now and then, in daily life we would all be better off taking back control over our food.
catbird :: Mar.29.2009 ::
food, mommyhood ::
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[Nate sprinkled his own yogurt for lunch]
[Nate made the cookie tray]
[Van loved the pizza] 
[Nate gave the feast the thumbs up]
