By Bonnie Rochman Monday, Nov. 02, 2009

Before food politics became a Wikipedia entry and the title of a book, before anyone cared about trans fat or realized we were in the midst of a pediatric-obesity epidemic, Lucky Charms were simply magically delicious.

Now the cereal, along with other childhood favorites like Corn Pops and Cocoa Pebbles, is being labeled a public-health menace by Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The center is trying to expose the marketing tactics that make kids clamor for a sugary start to the day, crispy calorie bombs that are often low in fiber and high in junky carbohydrates. Rudd researchers just finished crunching Nielsen and comScore data — which track television and Internet marketing — to figure out exactly how much cereal advertising kids see. The result: obesity researchers for the first time have hard data proving that the least healthy cereals are the ones marketed most aggressively to children.
(See which sugary brands do the most kid-chasing.)

Thursday October 22, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR: The Direct Selling Act will be amended to fix loopholes.

Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the amendments sought to clarify several vague definitions such as a pyramid scheme.

“There is a very thin line between what makes a company a pyramid scheme company or a multi-level company,” he told a press conference after launching the Malaysian Direct Distribution Association website yesterday.