meat is murder

See the Shaping Youth blog article about KFC Product Placement. (KFC Factory video also below.)

Normally I’d toss this American Idol-KFC “Buffalo Snacker” blurb in the ‘who cares’ hype hamper to keep from giving KFC more PR buzz, but frankly, this whole ‘hidden message’ ad trend has me tweaked.

Aside from the toxicity of targeting kids with MORE KFC transfat-laden junk food on the season premiere of the über-popular reality show among the tween-n-teen scene, they’re using the covert ops secret code treatment that kids go for every time.

Last year, these guys got nailed for subliminal advertising by embedding the word “Buffalo” on screen when a viewer fast-forwarded through it using a DVR and it caused an industry flurry akin to playing the Beatles White Album backwards.

This year the first 10,000 KFC site visitors identifying how the ad airing on American Idol differs from the regular KFC :30 spot will get a coupon for a free heart attack on a plate. (er, sorry, I mean, sandwich)

Amazing what kids will do for a buck. Quite literally. The thing costs 99 cents to begin with, and is the nutritional equivalent of wringing fried grease into your mouth, but the ‘entertainment’ thrill of winning something, interacting with your food, and being ‘in the know’ might as well be youth-branding in surround sound. (KFC’s interactive calculator gets an A+ though, can’t say they’re bluffing anyone there) (more…)

There is a lot that is wrong with this report from the Sunday Mirror. In terms of veganism it talks about honey and cheese in terms of being good things. But what it does highlight is that children can have chicken nuggets advertised and marketed to them whilst raisins are not allowed. This is not a way to make a healthy nation.

A LEADING nutritionist has blasted “flawed and confusing” food guidelines that allow chicken nuggets and chips to be advertised on children’s TV while raisins are banned as unhealthy.

Author and TV presenter Gillian McKeith says the rules are so absurd that ordinary parents have no hope of understanding them.

Watchdogs introduced the code last month in a bid to tackle child obesity, but the system used to rate foods means cheese, honey, raisins, marmite and some yoghurt have all been labelled as junk food, while chicken nuggets and oven chips passed the test.

But Ms McKeith, presenter of Channel 4’s

You Are What You Eat, said: “If people think a raisin is a junk food then that is absurd. This system of food profiling is flawed and confusing - I don’t think the average person will understand it.

“It simply doesn’t give a true picture of what’s healthy and what’s not. I advise people to use their common sense - most things are okay in moderation.”

Ms McKeith is strongly opposed to heavily-processed foods such as ready meals. “The further you go away from foods’ natural state, the more sugar and salt has been added,” she says.

And she has backed a campaign by The Grocer magazine and food manufacturers calling for an end to the Food Standards Agency’s new policy of judging foods.

They are critical of the way food is rated on its salt, sugar and fat content per 100g or 100ml portion, saying many foods would just not be eaten in this quantity.

This “Nutrient Profiling Model” deems bran flakes to have too much salt - even though it would take three bowlfuls to make up a 100g serving. Similarly, 100g of Marmite fails the test, despite the average serving being only 5g. It also means cheese is deemed too high in salt and fat, while microwave meals such as curry and rice, which typically come in a 450g serving, and chicken nuggets and oven chips are fine.

Kellogg’s spokesman Chris Wermann said: “Children’s TV adverts for Rice Krispies have been banned. One in six children goes to school without breakfast and to ban a product that encourages them to eat breakfast can’t be sensible.”

A spokesman for the Food Standards Authority said: “The FSA and Ofcom are working closely together to help parents protect their children from advertising that is clearly not intended to encourage healthy eating habits. “We stand by the Nutrient Profiling Model, which has undergone scientific scrutiny and been openly consulted on.”

sarah.arnold@sundaymirror.co.uk

In a truly bizarre twist of events in the whole fat child being fed crap saga we see the National Association of Headteachers Conference being sponsored by McDonalds.

HEADS who ban fast food vans outside schools were attacked as “hypocrites” yesterday - because their union conference is sponsored by McDonald’s.

Burger van owners were furious on learning the Welsh conference of the National Association of Head teachers is backed by the fast food giant.

Van owner Steve Jones said: “How can the union claim to be campaigning against junk food when they have a sponsor like that? It’s hypocrisy.”

He takes his burger van to schools in Newport, Gwent, but faces being banned in the crackdown.

McDonald’s will give “several thousand pounds” of sponsorship to the summer conference in Cardiff. Meanwhile, schools are encouraging children to eat healthy diets - and avoid burgers and chips.

But NAHT spokeswoman Anna Brychan said: “There are wider issues than just the food the vans provide, such as knowing where children are during breaks, providing a safe environment and informing them about eating well.”

McDonald’s said: “We have supported education as a direct response to demands from schools.”

SundayMirror Article

LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - Heather Mills is to launch her own chain of vegan fast food restaurants.

The former model, who as well as a View the profile for Jennifer Lopez on Celebrity Spotlightbeing a vegan is an ardent animal rights campaigner, says she has thrown herself into her work since her four-year marriage to Sir Paul McCartney imploded earlier this year.

Heather, 38, is hoping to have her specialist eateries open sometime next year.

She told US TV show ‘Extra’:

“I’ve been developing a vegan fast food chain and vegan food markets.”

Heather’s business idea mirrors the vegetarian meal range released by Paul’s late wife Linda, who was a strict vegetarian and campaigned tirelessly for the welfare of animals.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - From space, extraterrestrials and astronauts can look back to earth and see The Great Wall of China — and KFC’s Colonel Sanders.

The KFC Corp. on Tuesday launched a rebranding campaign with an 87,500 square-foot image of Colonel Sanders in the Nevada desert which the company says makes Kentucky Fried Chicken the world’s first brand visible from space.

“If there are extraterrestrials in outer space, KFC wants to become their restaurant of choice,” KFC President Gregg Dedrick said in a statement.

The logo consists of 65,000 one-foot by one-foot painted tile pieces that were assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

“If we hear back from a life form in space today - whether NASA astronauts or a signal from some life form on Mars - we’ll send up some Original Recipe Chicken,” said Dedrick.

The logo also depicts an updated version of KFC icon Colonel Sanders who wears his signature string tie but with a red apron instead of his classic white double-breasted suit.

The logo was built at the remote Area 51 desert near Rachel, Nevada, which KFC said was known as the UFO capital of the world and famous for its association with UFO conspiracy theories.