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Carol Lin: Sherri Carlson is the mother of three young children, ages 4, 8 and 11. Her biggest concern? Keeping junk food away from her kids.
Sherri Carlson: It's an uphill battle. I try.
Carol Lin: Carlson says her children are always asking her to buy the high-sugar snacks they see on store shelves and on television commercials. She blames kid-friendly advertising for her children's cravings.
Sherri Carlson: They just make them so enticing with the~just fun, upbeat, you know, eat-this-and-have-fun, kind of situation. You know, if I go off for a granola bar, it's not quite the same as, you know, having some fun Pop-Tart or something.
Carol Lin: Carlson joined two consumer activist groups in a pending class action lawsuit in Massachusetts against Viacom, owner of the children's network, Nickelodeon, and the cereal maker Kellogg. The plaintiffs say Kellogg and Viacom practised deceptive advertising by specifically marketing high-sugar products to young children.
". . . Apple Jacks! "
Carol Lin: They want Nickelodeon to stop airing junk food ads during programming for kids under eight years old. They also want both corporations to stop using popular children's figures, like SpongeBob SquarePants .
---Do you know who this is?
---SpongeBob !
---Yes! That's SpongeBob!
Carol Lin: Carlson says her youngest child, four-year-old Paige is already responding to this type of advertising.
Sherri Carlson: She’ll see a character , even though, if she's never even tasted the product, never even had it but since she sees her friend on the box she wants it.
Carol Lin: Kellogg and Nickelodeon declined to speak to CNN on camera, but released the following statements. Nickelodeon says it has been an acknowledged leader and positive force in educating and encouraging kids to live healthier lifestyles. Kellogg says it is proud of its products and the contributions they make to a healthy diet. We have a longstanding commitment to marketing in a responsible manner and our messages accurately portray our products. Carlson disagrees.
Sherri Carlson: . . health in respect of Nickelodeon, yeah, they have really good health messages and then, you know, then they put on some junky ad right after the health food messages.
Carol Lin: The Center for Science in the Public Interest one of the groups involved in the lawsuit agrees that both Nickelodeon and Kellogg have initiatives to promote children's health. But they say, it's not enough.
If you see the kinds of foods that bear characters like SpongeBob and Fairly Odd Parents and~and~and so on. It's junk, 90% or more.
Carol Lin: Sherri Carlson knows that kids will always want to eat sugary foods and hopes this lawsuit will protect them.
Sherri Carlson: Our kids are so important and so vulnerable.
Carol Lin, CNN.
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