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Advertising Ethics


 

These days advertisers will do just about anything to convince you to buy a product. Everyday we see products being pushed with a little extra boost to sell you. Kellogg's is one of these companies that has done some fibbing to get more attention. Kellogg's headquarters is located in Battle Creek, Michigan and has been around since 1906. The company that has been running for over 112 years tried to push the envelope on one of their cereal classics. 

In 2010,  Kellogg's famous Rice Krispies cereal claimed that if there children ate the cereal that it would boost their child's immune system. The statement on the box was "25% Daily Value of Antioxidents and Nutrients. Vitamins A, B, C, and E" and obvioulsy that wasn't the truth. 

 

The case was settled a year later with a $2.5 million pay off to affected customers and then had to give another $2.5 million worth of products to charity. A few short years later in 2013 Kellogg's Mini-Wheats faced similar backlash for claiming that the cereal made you smarter. They falsely claimed that the Frosted Mini-Wheats would increase your child's memory and attentiveness.  The company ended up paying over $4 million for false advertising. 

I can actually remember when these commercials where on the the Tv when I was younger like the one where the Mini Wheat character helped a child study for a test at breakfast. The crazy thing was is that the campaign actually ran for about four years and Kellogg's claimed that they made modifications to the commercials and marketing.  


The company also has had commercials banned in the United Kingdom for false claims of nutritional value in their Special K cereal. The quote that got them in a pickle was "full of goodness" the company claimed that the cereal contained multiple vitamins like B2 that was good for your skin. More trouble followed when it was claimed by Kellogg's that it Special K was a nutrient filled start to your day. These claims are now banned in the UK and are not allowed in the Kellogg commercials or marketing of their products.


In the end even the successful and large companies like Kellogg's will say just about anything to get you to buy their products repeatedly. Now it may work every now and then but not every company gets lucky enough to not get slammed with a False Advertisement claim. We never consider that companies don't exactly tell us the whole truth about their products even though we would think that would be the right thing to do even for future business. Every year we see new companies getting busted for false advertisement like MyPillow or Red-bull we notice things never really change. 

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