Food Politics

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marion Nestle, Cynthia Kapela and Jayne Jang Belz, DE Hutt Stapfer Bell. DE Hutt Stapfer Bell said: RT @marionnestle: Kraft pushes aliens to sell Lunchables?: I don’t know how Michele Simon finds these things but she has just sent me… http://cli.gs/Rqrh2 [...]

Well the use of aliens plus kids certainly isn’t being used to target anyone much older than age 12. Maybe this is outdated? Otherwise Kraft isn’t really living up to its promise…

So much for voluntary compliance.

I think you and Michelle Simon are both very adept at ferreting out vital information and thank you both for it. Love both blogs.

Actually, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood deserves the credit for ferreting this one out. They sounded the alarm a couple of weeks ago that Kraft was advertising Lunchables on the AddictingGames.com, on a page that was clearly not meant for kids. Kraft responded by taking down the ad, thanks to swift action by CCFC calling out Kraft via Twitter. Then writer Melanie Warner saw it and hunted down that video and outed Kraft’s bizarre alien video / field trip promotion. A good case study in the positive use of social networking!

For more info on the Campaign: http://www.commercialexploitation.org/index.html

The worst thing about that ad is the joy with which the deception is exposed.

Kraft: Creating the illusion of wonder and then ruthlessly tearing it down as what had been a magical experience is revealed to be nothing more than a front for terrible advertising, crushing children’s hopes and leaving them with only Lunchables to drown their sorrows in saturated fat.

I’d guess an ad campaign like this would be several hundred thousand dollars, this one ad probably… $50,000 at least. The production costs were low but obviously some props had to be made, actors hired, and the bits of motion work at the beginning and end.

I just finished working on an ad for a large fast food company, aimed at kids, paying about $5000 per second of animation.