海角大神

So, I鈥檝e been thinking about one of our news items from earlier this week, and just can鈥檛 shake the feeling that the glass slipper doesn鈥檛 quite fit.聽

On Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama and Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Robert Iger announced that as of 2015 Disney will ban junk-food advertising on its children鈥檚 television and radio programs.

Once the new regulations are in effect, food and beverage products will have to meet nutritional guidelines for serving size, calories, and fat and sugar content. Which means no more cartoon characters peddling sugary cereal or mass-processed cookies in the middle of Saturday morning kids programming.

This is, clearly, an important step. Not just because Disney is getting rid of junk-food marketing, but because of the implicit acknowledgement within its move that that the way companies advertise to children does impact their health.

(Mrs. Obama made reference to this herself at the press conference, saying that 鈥渇or years, people told us that no matter what we did to get our kids to eat well and exercise, we would never solve our childhood obesity crisis until companies changed the way that they sell food to our children.鈥�)

But there鈥檚 another big part of Disney鈥檚 new program that is getting a lot less attention 鈥� and to me feels a wee bit disturbing.

On Tuesday, Disney introduced what it is calling the 鈥淢ickey Check,鈥� which it described as a Mickey Mouse icon 鈥渢ool鈥� that 鈥渃alls out nutritious food and menu items sold in stores, online and at restaurant food venues at its U.S. Parks and Resorts.鈥� It may be coming to a store near you, soon, too, appearing on what Disney described as 鈥渓icensed food products.鈥澛�

That鈥檚 right. Disney is working to brand health. And apples.

Smart business move. Disney is already deep in the produce business, reportedly selling billions of Disney-branded servings of fresh fruit and vegetables. But now it鈥檚 moving in on healthy eating overall, equating its brand with 鈥済ood for you.鈥�

And sure, some parents might find this helpful. 鈥淟ook, toddler, of course you want the apple slices. Mickey says so!鈥�

But it just seems to me to be ...聽 I don鈥檛 know. Problematic? Aren鈥檛 little kids bombarded with enough advertising messages?聽 Does healthy eating 鈥� such a huge public health issue given childhood obesity rates, and one that goes to the intimate heart of families 鈥� need to be connected to the whole host of Disney (or any other company鈥檚) consumer products?

I called up Josh Golin, associate director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, to get his thoughts.聽 (And to see whether I was just stuck in the tower on this one.)

鈥淲e think teaching kids to eat based on characters is counter productive,鈥� he said, although he wanted me to make clear that he believed Disney鈥檚 overall announcement was positive, in large part because it shows that junk-food marketing has become stigmatized.

Golin said that it's important for children to learn about healthy eating by understanding what鈥檚 good for them; not by mindlessly following a brand.聽

Besides, he said, using beloved cartoon characters to target children is manipulative. Developmentally, he said, children have real love for the characters they know from stories.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 wrong to take a child鈥檚 love for the character and leverage that love to get them to buy something.聽 Even if it鈥檚 a product we think is 鈥榞ood.鈥� If children don鈥檛 understand the process of what鈥檚 happening to them 鈥� if they don鈥檛 understand the way their own love is being commodified and leveraged 鈥� that鈥檚 wrong. It鈥檚 manipulative.鈥�

Besides, he said, if eating choices are taught to be brand-based, what鈥檚 to keep kids from going after another brand that鈥檚 used for less healthy foods?

The Mickey Check is not surprising, of course. As Iger acknowledged earlier this week, Disney鈥檚 move might be socially beneficial, but it鈥檚 also good business. And for those of us with kids, it means yet another area where we are going to have to worry about marketing.