Isn’t the issue there the claims of “fruit flavours” easily misinterpreted as having actual fruit and including vitamin c prominently when it’s just fortified.
You've moved the goalpost! No, the issue is that fruit flavors and cartoon characters are abused to appeal to children. That is what the original comment said and which you only half replied to! The video provided to you was an example of such - cartoons and 'fruit flavors' to hook kids on wanting sugary cereals for breakfast.
> No, the issue is that fruit flavors and cartoon characters are abused to appeal to children. That is what the original comment said
That's not what they said. They said:
> It's deeply irresponsible how we allow advertisements and Big Sugar/Fast Food companies to exploit colorful cartoon characters and misleading health claims to hook people
I don't think the cartoon characters is the part of the problem to address. And I think that aspect becomes irrelevant when addressing the actual problem. (And 'Fruit flavours' was my addition and question not theirs)
What part of my comment "only half replied"? I asked two questions in relation to the comment. I mentioned "colourful cartoon characters" and "fruit flavours" because those are examples of things that "appeal to kids" even though they have wider audiences. Canada (and other countries?) want to ban flavours from e-cigarettes because of the appeal to youth (and limiting it to just mint, menthol and tobacco). Why should an adult be limited to mint as a flavour for an age-controlled product? Why shouldn't an advertiser be allowed to use colorful cartoon characters?
Moved goalpost? Aren't we saying the same thing here? The video, and similar breakfast cereals, are perfect examples of the actual problem. It uses the combination of cartoons and false health claims. The false health claims are the parts that are problematic - that's the part to eliminate. The informational part of that video (and the box information design!) is meant to appeal to (read: mislead) adults, not kids.
Allowing false health claims for unhealthy products is an issue. Miseducating parents and adults about what's healthy is an issue. Suppressing how terrible excess sugar is for children and adults is an issue. Allowing lines like "how about fruit flavours"? (in video) and showing pictures of fruit is an issue. Allowing producers to hide how unhealthy something is by saying it's "healthy when part of a balanced breakfast" is an issue. Even now, nutrition information or prominent labels for cereals can include the values (eg protein) when one consumes it with milk!
Change that and what does that video or other ads for cereals become?
The purpose of the commercial is to create demand where there otherwise would not have been. Do you think that demand comes from the parents or the children? Which parts of the commercial do you think are most important for fomenting this demand?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJmM2CSn2ao