Lucky Charms: Poster Child for Industrial Junk Food? Fat Profits, Fat Kids

Lucky Charms manufacturer, General Mills, is celebrating the sugar-laden cereal's 50th birthday this year. 

Well, why shouldn't mega-corporation General Mills celebrate? Lucky Charms is the 10th best selling cereal in the U.S., a stand-out milestone in a lucrative product field of hundreds upon hundreds of breakfast cereals. Very few fake foods have achieved such lofty sales volumes. 

And after half a century on supermarket shelves, Lucky Charms sales are surging.  Reported Businessweek about first quarter 2013:

"IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, estimates that Lucky Charms sales this year are up 14.5 percent to $145.9 million so far. By contrast, the company’s overall U.S. sales were up just 2 percent in the latest quarter and 1 percent in fiscal 2013."

A reason for the newest upsurge in Lucky Charms' popularity? Adults, who were targeted in clever new marketing campaigns. "The company claims more than 40 percent of Lucky Charms eaters are adults," per Businessweek.

"'We know that adults have always loved Lucky Charms and by reconnecting them with the brand, we have reignited their love of one of their favorite things from childhood,' says Carla Vernon, General Mills’ marketing director for Lucky Charms." (source - Businessweek)

Exuded another marketing guru about Lucky Charms' 50th birthday:

"For 50 years, Lucky Charms has been delighting kids and kids at heart with our wonderful combination of frosted toasted oats and magical marshmallows," Jenny Zechmeister, marketing manager for Lucky Charms, told HLN" (source - HLNTV, a Time-Warner Company)

What was General Mills thinking?
 As I pondered the appalling public health impact of this beloved "cereal" fake food comprised of 37% sugar and a plethora of artificial colors and flavors, I wondered... 

• What was General Mills ("GM") thinking when it created Lucky Charms? 
• Was child nutrition or public health ever seriously considered? 
• Or is Lucky Charms the perfect poster child for industrial-made junk food aimed solely at maximum corporate profitability? 

Seems that Lucky Charms was created on a dare in 1962 by GM Research Labs to Vice-President John Holahan. A business dare to create a new product in six months, rather than the usual two to three years, and for that product to use existing manufacturing  capacity at its Cheerios or Wheaties plants.  

While perusing supermarket aisles, Holahan conjured the idea of combining Cheerios with bits of Brach's bright orange Circus Peanuts marshmallow candy.    Per Dr. Tracy Tuten, marketing professor at East Carolina University:

"The General Mills cereal scientists worked with the Kraft marshmallow scientists to develop a cereal marshmallow with the right properties. The Circus peanuts had much more water content than most cereal pieces. They had to develop a marshmallow with low water content that would last on the store shelves for months... The new extrusion process also allowed them to form shapes and different colors..." (source - TracyTuten.com, July 5, 2013)

Three enthusiastic focus groups of mothers and their young children, and GM ignored its normal product-development protocol process to rush Lucky Charms into supermarkets across the nation.  Exuded one mother, "If it keeps the kids quiet and happy at breakfast, bring it on!"

Marbits, short for marshmallow bits, are and always have been 25% of Lucky Charms cereal. But that apparently wasn't enough sugar to "keep the kids happy at breakfast."  

"The oat cereal was not originally sugar coated. After initial sales failed to meet expectations, the oats were sugar coated, and the cereal's success grew. The recipe for the cereal remained unchanged until the introduction of a new flavor: Chocolate Lucky Charms, in 2005...

"Following the product launch, the General Mills marketing department found that sales performed dramatically better if the composition of the marbits changed periodically. Various features of the marbits were modified to maximize their appeal to young consumers. In focus groups and market research, more brightly colored charms resulted in better sales than did dull or pastel colors. Holahan called Lucky Charms a 'lesson in creative marketing.'" (source - Wikipedia)

The answers to my three questions appear to be... 
What was General Mills ("GM") thinking when it created Lucky Charms? 

• Cut product development time by 70%
• Not incur additional manufacturing facilities costs
• Long store shelf life
• Something super-sugary to please the palate
• Something fun to attract and amuse kids
• "Creative marketing" to spur sales

Was child nutrition or public health ever seriously considered?  No, apparently neither played any role whatsoever in GM's creation of Lucky Charms cereal.

Is Lucky Charms the perfect poster child for industrial-made junk food aimed solely at maximum corporate profitability? That's the logical conclusion. 

What is General Mills celebrating?

So what, exactly, is General Mills celebrating when it joyously marks the 50th birthday of its Lucky Charms cereal product line?    

Clever marketing, especially to children. Very long sales life. Addictively sugary taste, ensuring repeat buyers. Fast-track product development. Hefty profits for mega-corporation General Mills.  

Nutrition for kids be damned. Public health be damned. Mere impediments to corporate profits from Lucky Charms, perfect poster child for industrial-made junk food.  

Happy Birthday to Lucky Charms for 50 years of fat profits and fat kids! 

Fake Food Products Endorsed by Doctors: Bogus Claims, Empty Promises?

Be wary of food products endorsed by doctors. Very wary!

"When you see a product that's endorsed by a doctor, keep in mind that the doctor is probably being paid for that endorsement, just as if he were an athlete or an actor, so take it with a grain of salt," warned one local TV station. 

The medical establishment can be seduced by money to hawk all manner of questionable products, from dangerous prescription drugs to processed breakfast cereals, quasi-useless supplements, and genetically modified foods. Yes, even cigarettes, years ago. 

Not all in the medical establishment can be enticed by all-expenses-paid junkets, pricey speaking engagements, meals and gifts, scads of free samples, and various forms of direct payments.  

But sadly, far too many succumb to financial temptation from vendors with something to sell.

Ensure Drinks, Supplements
For example, take Ensure "nutrition drinks" and "meal supplements," which are manufactured by Abbott Nutrition, part of Big Pharma corporate giant Abbott Laboratories.   Abbott Labs  is the maker of addictive painkiller Vicodin and dozens of other highly profitable drugs.

"#1 doctor recommended brand" blares on the label of every bottle of Ensure's various nutrition drinks.  Yet, Ensure is formulated mainly of sugar and water, spiked with innumerable chemicals, and loaded with preservatives, additives, and artificial flavorings and colors. 

Writes the editor of NaturalNews.com of Ensure:

".. the top two ingredients in Ensure are almost identical to the top two ingredients in soft drinks! ... the top four ingredients (are): water, sugar, corn syrup and maltodextrin. That's basically three sweeteners and water. So if you were trying to be funny, you could call this product 'sugar-sugar-sugar-water,' because that is primarily what it's made of, according to the ingredients label... So essentially, what you have here with Ensure, is a predominantly sugar-water product that has been fortified with a few vitamins and minerals. 

"The phrase, 'Complete, balanced, nutrition,' in my personal opinion, is an outright lie. This product has nothing resembling complete, balanced nutrition..."

In 2012, sales of Ensure and Glucerna, its diabetic alternative to Ensure, were almost $2 billion.... thanks mainly to credibility lent to the products by many in the medical establishment. 

(Read Ensure Drink: Sugary Fake Food Pseudo-Wonder Tonic by Vicodin Maker for more.)

Wheaties Fuel Cereal

Another example is Wheaties Fuel cereal, introduced by General Mills in 2009, which based its appeal on endorsement by "Dr. John Ivy, a world-renowned expert on the role of nutrition and exercise performance." Commented Dr. Ivy, a professor at University of Texas, Austin who is associated with many consumer products:

"We’ve learned a lot about the bond between nutrition and performance over the years and as today’s athletes continue to get bigger, faster and stronger, it was important to develop a cereal that evolved along with them,”

Five years later, Wheaties Fuel is hard to find, and for good reason: this cereal aimed at athletes is more costly, and yet, is essentially no healthier than run-of-the-mill Wheaties cereal. Maybe less healthy for most people... 

Critiqued OutSports.com in 2010:

"As someone who is big on nutrition and an obsessive label-reader, one thing is obvious: Wheaties Fuel is basically Wheaties with more fat and sugar.

"Regular Wheaties is a pretty simple cereal with only five ingredients: Whole grain wheat, sugar, salt, corn syrup and trisodium phosphate. One serving (3/4 cup) has 100 calories, .5 grams of fat, 4 grams of sugar, 15 grams of other carbs, 3 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein, along with some added vitamins. Wheaties Fuel, in contrast, loads up on the sugar, with some added fat.... Fourteen grams of sugar per serving is a lot for anyone who cares about their nutrition."

Miracle Foods from Obscure Ingredients
You've heard them hawked on infomercials and the internet, via multi-level marketing orgs... Acai berry, olive leaf extract, raspberry ketones... 

Here's another: Skyfruit, touted as...

"... only largely found in tropical areas in the South Pacific where its cleanest and unspoiled places like Solomon Islands. The people there have consumed Skyfruit internally for over 1000 years. It is known as the queen of plants and knowledge of its healthful properties has been handed down from generation to generation to the present day. Common in the South Pacific, Sky Fruit is also found in small quantity in other tropical areas of the world."

XKLWorldWide.com promotes  that its "Herb Food Concentrate is made from 100% natural Skyfruit that is being advanced bio-technologically processed and prepared. The quality of XKLCare?products has earned worldwide recognition.? 

Testimonials? Of course, with claims of relief from inflammation, hypertension, backache, skin peeling,  asthma, even diabetes. 

Doctor endorsements? Absolutely. Five, including glowing statements:

• "We desperately need XKLCare™ product. Instead of waiting for your health care ship to come in, with this product you're already aboard."
• "It is with joy and pride that I endorseXKLCare™ product, the world's most potent natural food supplement."
• ""If you think XKLCare™ product is expensive, try disease. Based on the preventive effect and strong antioxidant activity of XKLCare™ product, I would like to say that it is indeed the most incredible dietary supplement I have ever come across."

(Also read Raspberry Ketones: Another Industrial Food Quasi-Scam? and Olive Leaf Extract: Industrial Food Quasi-Scam with Clever Story.)

Be wary of products endorsed by doctors!  Don 't buy into the credibility lent to quasi-healthy fake-food products by doctors and other medical professionals seeking to fill their coffers.  

If tempted, do your homework. Check out both the medical professional and the product via a simple Google searches. And read the labels, friends. Be your own informed advocate. 

Walmart Hypocrisy: Hunger Campaign that Doesn't Address Real Hunger

The hypocrisy and cynical irony are almost too rich for words. Extreme, ethics-free capitalism at its finest... 

Hunger is defined as "... the physical sensation of desiring food. When politicians, relief workers and social scientists talk about people suffering from hunger, they usually refer to those who are unable to eat sufficient food to meet their basic nutritional needs for sustained periods of time." on Wikipedia. 

With this ad late last month, Walmart urged Americans to join in "fighting hunger together" by buying products in its store, made by the leading fake food mega-corporations:

• General Mills
• Kraft Foods
• Unilever
• Kellogg's
• Con Agra Foods
• Nestle
• Pepsico
• Campbell's
• Dr Pepper/Snapple Group
• Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods Inc.)

Walmart wrote:

"In 2010, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation made a historic $2 billion commitment to fight hunger in America through cash and in-kind donations. The Fighting Hunger Together leverages Walmart and the Walmart Foundation’s size and scale to provide nutritious food and funding to nonprofits that are committed to finding solutions for this important issue."

This clever ad campaign leaves the clear impression that Walmart and its fake-food corporate suppliers are fighting hunger.  Truth is that nowhere does Walmart state that it or its partners "are committed to finding solutions for this important issue."     

Instead, Walmart appears to promise to donate a tiny portion of cash (see the list of nonprofits here) from sales to Americans of highly-processed fake foods  manufactured by its "partners" including:

• Kellogg's Froot Loops
• Skippy peanut butter
• Banquet chicken nuggets
• Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, canned
• Nature Valley granola thins
• Honey Nut Cheerios

"In-kind donations" by Walmart and its mega-corporate food suppliers means that a majority of their joint "$2 Billion commitment" will be their own fake food products... Froot Loops, Skippy peanut butter, Banquet chicken nuggets, canned Kraft cheese, Nature Valley bars, Honey Nut Cheerios, and the like... to food banks, charities, and soup kitchens serving the hungry in their communities.  

If hungry Americans dine mainly on fake-food product donations, then, by definition, they will remain hungry, as Froot Loops, Skippy peanut butter, Banquet chicken nuggets, canned Kraft cheese, Honey Nut Cheerios, and all other highly processed foods do not meet their basic nutritional needs for sustained periods of time. Not by a long shot... 

Such processed fake foods are chock full of fat, salt, and sugar, as well as chemicals, additives, fillers, emulsifiers, artificial  colors and flavors, and much more. . 

Walmart's "fighting hunger together" campaign is sheer gimmickry genius in that it equates Walmart with fighting hunger, yet requires nearly no sacrifice of one the world's largest corporations beyond increasing sales of its products.  And Walmart gets humanitarian brownie-points by donating products approaching "must sell" dates or the end of shelf life... 

Indeed, a fine example of ethics-free capitalism.  Problem is... the hungry are still hungry!