It is important that you listen to them as they are sincere and mean no harm. Sometimes their comments may be considered to be rude or even too direct, but, keep in mind that kids are simply sharing what they saw, what they heard or what someone else may have said. Don’t over-analyze it - if you do, you will be putting your own opinion and feelings into the equation.

Focus Groups are a way to gather information from these kids to better target specific age-ranges, cultural backgrounds, ethnicity, social status, etc.

I recently participated in an international focus group with kids from Central America. One of the questions asked was: “Who decides for the most part where to go out and eat?” It seems like a very basic question. One that requires a very basic answer given multiple answers as choices. The answers were:
A) My father
B) My mother
C) Both decide
D) I decide
E) Other

One of the kids marked down options A and options E. Under “other”, he wrote: “When my dad is not home, my mom’s boyfriend decides, but my dad decides most of the time”.

I have nothing else to say, except, YIKES!

The non-profit group based in Washington (Center for Science in the Public Interest) claims that by advertising Happy Meals that contain toys, McD is being unfair and deceptive towards children and families. The CSPI ’s director Stephen Gardner went as far as comparing Mc Donald’s to “the stranger at the playground handing out candy to children”.

The claim from the CSPI that the use of toys undercuts parental authority and exploits children’s development immaturity, that induces children to prefer harmful foods, is one of the reasons why they are warranting the injunction. The CSPI has given McDonald’s 30 days to stop the practice or the lawsuit will go ahead.

I think this is all energized by the ridiculous ordinance that was passed earlier in May in Santa Clara County, California, where restaurants were prevented from including toys or other promotional items with their kids meals. If this lawsuit moves forward, it will be based on an allegation that lacks substance and that threatens not only parents authority over kids but also the premise of doing business.

Norkys in Peru, a “Pollos a la Brasa” chain of restaurants will begin the promotion the 2nd week of June in 97 of their stores throughout Peru. Customers in Peru can receive a free plush toy with the purchase of any kids meal or with a value menu or with any order/purchase that has an Inca Kola (the local favorite drink in Peru).

Tip Top, a chain of restaurants that serves fried chicken, will also carry the Snoopy plush toys in their 30 stores in Nicaragua. Tip Top also offers a kids menu and the promotion was also launched the 2nd week in June. A limited number of pieces will be available per store. Tip Top plans on running slides that feature some of the Snoopy collectible toys during some of the World Cup games in their local TV stations. Here is an example of one of them in what they hope can be one of the featured matches.

Pollos Copacabana in Bolivia will offer the 8 different Snoopy toys holding small soccer balls and featuring 8 different country teams. Customers in Bolivia can receive a free plush Snoopy with a kids meal with the purchase of a 8 pc or 12 pc chicken bucket combo. Here is a TV commercial being ran in that country.

The following countries are featured: Brasil, Italy, France, Argentina, England, Germany, Netherlands and Spain. As of June 15th, 7 of these teams have played their first game in the World Cup and NONE of them have lost a match.

The 16 oz. glasses were being sold for US$ 2 as part of a promotional campaign for the movie: Shrek Forever After. They were available in 4 designs depicting the characters Shrek, Princess Fiona, Puss in Boots and Donkey.

Cadmium is a known carcinogen that has shown to cause bone softening and severe kidney problems. Cadmium can be used to create reds and yellows in paint. While the amounts of Cadmium found on the glasses were not specified, the CPSC said they were slightly above the protective level developed by the agency.

The glasses were manufactured by ARC International out of Millville, New Jersey and began selling in May 21st. Approximately seven million pieces have been sold an another 5 million are currently in the stores.

I want to share my experience with a particular shipment. Having dealt with these sort of conflicts for 16 years, I thought I had pretty much seen it all or at least have heard it all. I was wrong. I can write about this now as the problem was resolved but it took several days of sleepless nights, hundreds of calls, emails, skype video conferences and most importantly, the frustration of feeling absolutely helpless.

We had a particular promotion scheduled to be launched this week. Goods were manufactured with plenty of time, met all quality criteria and safety specifications so everything seemed to be going just fine, similar to 99% of the shipments we handle. When a promotion is urgent or semi-urgent, we normally would do an “express release” for the bill of lading and other documents that way, clients can clear their goods a lot faster and not have to wait for the original to be delivered to them.

In most of the cases, when we facilitate this procedure, it is done without a glitch. In some other cases, all it takes is for a worker on the transportation agency, at terminal, or at port to press the wrong button, or to fill incorrectly some sort of form, and then an original bill of lading is issued and/or released, making in some cases, “the express release” obsolete. In this very unlikely case, an email, or several emails, a phone call, or several phone calls, a letter, or several letters…(well, you get the point), could help resolve the situation. In this specific case, all of the above from us, from our forwarding agent, from destination, from all of the respective counterparts and from a lot of people involved did not accomplish anything. There was simply one person blocking this whole process without foundation. There was no particular reason why, but after a phone call that I made, it became a bit more apparent. While it was not as clear and as direct as I could have hoped for, an off-the-record request for some sort of compensation to “accelerate” or to oblige was requested and laid on the table.

Storage charges were eminent and things were growing more and more complicated with no positive outcome in the horizon. Certified letters, stamps, legalized documents, police reports to claim lost/stolen documents, ads on newspaper and publications, were among some of the many things that had to be done in the middle of the night and during early hours of the morning.

Let me emphasize once again the time difference between China and the US. Our counterpart in China was working during Chinese day time and during Chinese night time (US day time), and we were also working during our day time (night time in China) and during our night (China time) for over 100 hours straight. Our freight forwarder was doing the same as well. There is no doubt in my mind that if we did not do this, the goods would have not been cleared yet. In my mind, I have different theories of how and why this happened.

I was also positive now that there was another way out to avoid all of this hassle, and while it was not presented in such a way, there was a hint of what we had to do to make this happen in the phone conversation that I had previously. Nevertheless, we had to play by the rules; rules that had been changed and were being changed daily, and rules that most likely would change once again after we had fulfilled all necessary requests.

At the end, our perseverance prevailed and we were successful. We are very proud to have taken a stand and not given in. There is one thing that I learned as well. I learned that there are people that work just as hard as we do, willing to work day and night to keep a customer happy.

This is the most important thing that I learned though. I learned that doing what is right may lead to sleepless nights, but that sleepless nights doing what is right, are much better than having to endure sleepless nights due to a dirty conscience (oh, and that coffee is by not means overrated).

The movie promotion will feature separate adult and kid-focused advertising. The promotion flies into participating restaurants in celebration of the highly-anticipated sequel, which debuts in theaters on May 7, 2010.

According to Yeager, toys entice young customers to load up on high-calorie food which in turn will contribute to child obesity.

Apparently, Yeager underestimates parents. I cannot recall when was the last time I saw a four-year-old drive to a restaurant and order a kids meal. PARENTS make the decision of what is healthy or not. Today, restaurants and fast food chains offer a much wider variety of options which include fruit, salads, natural juices, etc.

Child obesity is a problem that needs to be addressed by increasing the level of activity, by encouraging kids to exercise more often, by making them aware of OPTIONS and by educating parents. You do not fight child obesity by putting restrictions on restaurants and how they can market their products.

Yeager needs a happy meal and a toy as he forgets how fun toys can be - someone has been deprived from having fun in earlier years.

Meet Yeager…

According to the report, NOT A SINGLE COMPANY scored an A. There were a handful of companies that scored B’s, among them: Mars, QUBO, Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Kraft, Cadbury Adams, Hershey, Dunkin’ Brands and General Mills.

A few companies managed to squeeze in C: Post Foods, PepsiCo, PBS, Coca-Cola, Disney, Burger King, Campbell Soup, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Heinz and Viacom (Nickelodeon). The ones that did not do as good and scored a D are: Sunny Delight, Krispy Kreme, Cartoon Network, Ruby Tuesday, Subway, KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Chuck E. Cheese’s.

I was able to mention all the passing companies in a 3 short paragraphs. I will need considerable more room for the ones that scored an F: Bob Evans, CBS, Dairy Queen, Discovery, Mattel, Univision, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Sierra Studios, Channel One, AMC, American Girl Magazine, Arby’s, Blizzard Video Games, Blue Sky Studios, Boys’ Life Magazine, Chilli’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Church’s Chicken, Carmike Cinemas, Cheesecake Factory, Chick-fil-A, Cinemark, Chipotle, Carl’s Jr, Hardee’s, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Denny’s Applebee’s, IHOP, Domino’s Pizza, Peanuts Comic, EA Video Games, GoldenCorral, Girls Life Magazine, Hansen Beverage, Hasbro, Barney, Bob the Builder, Thomas the Train, Hollywood Theatres, HP Hood, Jack in the Box, Kerasotes Showplace, Kids Discover Magazine, Klutz, Tips and Tricks Magazine, Little Caesars, LucasFilm, Major League Soccer, Marcus Movie Theatres, Marvel Comics, Little Debbie snack cakes, Bratz, Xbox, Major League Baseball, National Amusements theaters, NASCAR, National Geographic Kids, NHL, Wild Animal Baby Magazine, Ranger Rick, NBA, NFL, Nintendo, Outback Steakhouse, Panda Express, Panera Bread, Papa John’s, Fun Brain, Airheads, Perkins & Marie Callender’s, Pilgrim’s Pride, Aunt Jamima, Duncan Hines, Lender’s, Pokemon Company, Popeye’s Chicken, Quizno’s, Rave Motion, Red Robin, Regal Entertainment, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Hometown Buffet, Old Country Buffet, Sara Lee, Scholastic, Schwan’s, Sizzler, Sonic, Sony’s Playstation, Sunkist, TGI Friday’s, Texas Roadhouse, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Time for Kids, Bazooka, Ring Pop, Baby Bottle Pop, Waffle House, Wendy’s, Whataburger, WWE, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Zoobooks.

So, how does the CSPI issue such letter grades? According to them, Mars was the highest graded one and their policy did not allow for its products to be marketed to children under 12 years old and covered most of the key media approaches (with the exception of on-package marketing and most marketing in high schools). They also claim that without significant progress in the next 24 months, the US will need to rely on government regulation, rather than self-regulation, as to address food marketing to children. This may not be far-fetched. Obama himself said: “The food industry overall could do substantially more to limit children’s exposure to foods with minimal nutritional value…guidelines for advertising and marketing of foods and beverages must be finalized, and the industry should be encouraged to implement these guidelines on a voluntary basis. If voluntary adoption is not effective…these guidelines should be made mandatory.”.

According to the CSPI though, any company that offers a kids’ menu is aggressively seeking their business. What they fail to see is that a kids menu is not a means to advertise to kids, it is simply an offering that HAS to be implemented in order to attract parents to the food venue. Parents are more likely to attend a location that offers a meal for their kids – this is really not something I would consider “advertising” to kids. Not every company on the list targets kids. Take the kids meal TOY industry…we target restaurants – yes, we manufacture toys that in turn are aimed to attract kids. Should we have a policy on how to target kids? If we did, how in the world would we stay in business? I mean, we do not offer food, but we certainly encourage kids to consume food.

Whatever happened to the popcorn….?

When a company admits they are at fault, when they embrace what they have lacked for years, when they make it public and challenge themselves to change public opinion, that is when they begin to capitalize on the mistakes of the past. I consider this to be one of the best advertising campaigns of all times, if in fact, they meet their goals.

I have to admit that I stopped ordering Domino’s Pizza as soon as I graduated from college. Their 30-minute guarantee and their very affordable pitch had me sold back then. After I became more selective in my dining choices, Domino’s was not at the top of my list. I will without a doubt try the pizza again very soon, maybe even before the Super Bowl. I am very curious to see if they have managed to improve the crust, sauce and also, customer service (which they did not mention on their ads, but I would imagine they would touch on as well during their improved re-branding efforts).

One thing is for sure: it took a lot of guts to come out in the open and lay it all out there in front of millions of people to see. Some may have made fun of it, some may have agreed with everything they have to say…but, also lots will agree that it took courage to come out and say it. Hats off to them…and hopefully, the next pizza I order will be in fact superior to the old ones.

While it is more likely to be found in batteries and metal products like jewelry, attention must be paid to the contents it could have on paints and even on plastic materials. Most people get a microscopic does of Cadmium by breathing and eating. Certain plants, like tobacco, ingest cadmium through their roots hence people will absorb it during digestion or inhalation. The nasty sides of direct contact with Cadmium include, but are not limited to, cancer, leaking of protein in the kidneys and progressive weakness of bones.

Cadmium is more dangerous for children due to their growing bodies are more susceptible to absorbing substances. To date, there has been one child’s death attributed to this heavy metal, it was in Toronto back in 1994. Cadmium is a know carcinogen, that just like lead, can hinder brain development in the very young. Consistent levels of exposure (through biting, sucking, etc) can result in high ingestion levels of these heavy metals.

The AP study that targeted children jewelry, showed some of the items tested with contents of 10% of cadmium or more. These are extremely high contents of this heavy metal. Currently, there are no required cadmium standards for children in jewelry.

However, safety testing for kids meal toys does test not only for lead and CADMIUM, but also against many other heavy metals that could be soluble migrated elements (ASTM F963-08). The test is performed to confirm contents of Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Mercury and Selenium. Further, there IS a LIMIT in the content of Cadmium and that is measured in milligrams per kilogram (parts per million). The limit established is 75 parts per million (0.00075%). While this is the limit, most of the kids meal toys produced for large corporations in the US do not even reach 10% of the limit (6 parts per million = 0.00006%).

While I am not condoning in ANY shape of form, the content of cadmium in items that target kids or adults for that matter, it is important to understand that certain industries do take into consideration safety and consider it as a priority. Hopefully this will help educate some people and will tame some misconceptions about the industry and safety.