Mickey Mouse is going on a diet. In a bow to pressure from health advocates, the Walt Disney Company has announced plans to reduce the trans fat contained in food served at its theme parks. In addition, the company said it would limit product licensing to healthy foods.
The entertainment giant said its plan calls for the elimination of all added trans fats from food served at its parks by the end of 2007, as well as its licensed and promotional products by the end of 2008. That means fewer calories and less fat, saturated fat and sugar in the food it serves.
The company's moves drew praise from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a not-for-profit consumer advocacy organization, which said the new Disney policy puts "Mickey Mouse head, shoulders and ears above SpongeBob SquarePants."
"Those are important and laudable steps, and ones that should be replicated by other media companies, restaurants and food processors," said Margo Wootan, CSPI's Nutrition Policy Director.
"Parents have a hard enough time feeding their kids without having cartoon characters pulling the rug out from under them. Disney's new practices put it in a much more family-friendly position its competitors, notably Nickelodeon, whose programming is filled with junk food ads and whose characters grace all kinds of junk-food packaging," Wootan said.
But Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a Ralph Nader group critical of overactive marketing, said the guidelines are more notable for what they omit than what they include. "If Disney really cared about kids, it would stop all marketing of junk food to children, including on ABC," he said.
Getting Disney's characters off mass-market foods could take awhile. Most Disney licensing deals end by 2008, but a Kellogg Co. deal for cereal has another seven years to run, Advertising Age reported. In addition, Disney Consumer Products has licensing deals with Kellogg's Keebler division, Coca-Cola's Minute Maid and McDonald's for Happy Meals.
"Disney will be providing healthier options for families that seek them, whether at our Parks or through our broad array of licensed foods," said Disney President and CEO Robert Iger. "The Disney brand and characters are in a unique position to market food that kids will want and parents will feel good about giving them."
The company said the guidelines are based on The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and have been developed in cooperation with two top child health and wellness experts, Dr. James O. Hill, Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Dr. Keith Thomas Ayoob, Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Specifically, the guidelines governing kid-focused licensed foods call for limits such as the following:
• A cap on calories that results in appropriate kid-sized portions.
• Total fat will not exceed 30 percent of calories for main and side dishes and 35 percent for snacks.
• Saturated fat will not exceed 10 percent of calories for main dishes, side dishes and snacks.
• Added sugar will not exceed 10 percent of calories for main dishes and side dishes and 25 percent of calories for snacks.
• Disney will continue to license special-occasion sweets such as birthday cakes and seasonal candy as part of its product range but will limit the number of indulgence items in its licensed portfolio to 15 percent by 2010. In addition, most special-occasion sweets will be available in single-serving packets.
"By developing nutrition guidelines for children, Disney is demonstrating a long-term commitment to the health of kids," Hill said. "The guidelines are comprehensive and consistent with The Dietary Guidelines for Americans," that are issued by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Disney's timetable for implementing its new policies is dictated by existing contractual arrangements, the majority of which will lapse in their current form within two years. Disney expects most of its licensed products and promotional tie-ins to meet the new guidelines by the end of 2008.
Beginning this month in U.S. Disney Parks and Resorts, kids' meals are automatically being served with low fat milk, 100 percent fruit juice or water along with side dishes like apple sauce or carrots in place of the traditional soft drinks and French fries, the company said. Parents will still be able to substitute French fries and soda at no additional cost. Initial tests involving 20,000 kids' meals show that as many as 90 percent of parents and kids stayed with the more nutritious option.
"This is a terrific initiative because it makes it easier for parents, even while on vacation, to offer their children well balanced meals with kid appeal," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
"These are just first steps in an initiative that will evolve over time," said Iger. "But we understand the challenges faced by parents and recognize Disney can contribute to the solution."
