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Well the danger is blogging about The Special K 2 week challenge is it promotes awareness of there product, be it good or bad.

So I like the premise of the challenge but behind it lurks a large multi national who has shareholders, mmm, what do share holder like, seeing healthy people around the globe, eating nutritious food and exercising regularly or maybe buying more Special K products.

Well Kellogg’s mission statement says “To drive sustainable growth through the power of our people and brands by better serving the needs of our consumers, customers and communities”.

So are there any elements of being a socially responsible company with the ultimate goal being focused around improving the health of their customers rather than increasing sales sales or giving the market the type of products they want but don’t need or are marketing about why they need Special K products?

Well if the program didn’t involve buying there highly processed products, it would be awesome but guess what, part of their program involves buying their special breakfast bars and eating Special K.

So lets look at there breakfast suggestions, Special K every morning mixed in with fruit & yoghurt, toast and muffins.

Remember that this company has also made some nutritional claims about Coco Pops “now supports your child’s immunity”

Obesity and people’s health is becoming the new marketing frontier for food companies.
Products that bring weight management, that make you feel better, have more energy and help the digestive tract are going to be big movers on the supermarket shelves.

Numerous companies adding nutrients, bacteria and minerals to our highly processed foods in order to win the sale, with Omega 3 and anti oxidants topping the list.

Recently Kelleggs made some crazy nutritonal claims that “Now Helps Support Your Child’s IMMUNITY” right on the front of the cereal box with the added claims of 25% of the daily value of antioxidant vitamins A, C and E.

Together with Kellogg’s, Groupe Danone and Nestle are getting into the nutritional bandwagon with creating additives that make there products more nutritionally appealing.

Danone have Dannon Activia and DanActive Yoghurt are leading the charge with there Probiotics, the healthy bacteria that are found in your gastrointestinal tract. Once again there is limited research to support the benefits of probiotics and more importantly the different strains of probiotics.

It’s a shame that as a society, we are increasing becoming more reliant on the avalanche of processed foods that large food vendors are happy to produce to satisfy demand.

Ultimately clever marketing and development of new products will persuade unsuspecting consumers to make choices as to what they consume, be it food closer to it’s natural state or the processed variety from food companies.

It’s easy to get carried away by the fancy advertising campaigns and cosmetic claims but you really need to read the fine print first. Usually the fine print is printed on the packaging as this is usually discarded once the product is used for the fitst time.

The dvertisement for Complete Lift by Roc mentions a “lift of up to 2mm” well 29/33 subjects averaged 0.8mm, not 2mmThe cosmetic industry is one industry like the vitamin & supplement industry that are not as regulated as the pharmaceutical industry where there is no standardised testing of products.

With the Anti Aging market a Billion dollar industry, the growth of new products is bewildering.
Rok’s website states that RoC® COMPLETE LIFT Night Cream
Clinically proven to increase firmness, improve elasticity, and give skin a visibly lifted look.
Well there testing according to their advertisement

Clinical evaulation 8 weeks: facial Contour> result obtained on 3 subjects, average was 0.7mm on 18 subjects.