CARU Recommends Kraft Modify ‘Lunchables’ Advertising to Better Depict Balanced Meal; Company Agrees to Do So

New York, NY – Aug. 14,  2012 – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit has recommended that Kraft Foods, Inc., modify broadcast advertising for Oscar Mayer Lunchables Peanut Butter and Jelly, to better depict the product in the context of a balanced meal.

CARU is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s self-regulatory system and is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

Broadcast advertising for the product came to the attention of CARU through CARU’s routine monitoring of advertising directed to children.

The advertising at issue featured a child eating the peanut butter and jelly sandwich from his Lunchables, but not the fruit included with the meal.

CARU questioned whether the shot of the boy eating the Lunchables peanut butter and jelly sandwich by itself depicted a “nutritionally balanced meal” as defined by CARU’s guidelines.

The guidelines state that any depiction  of a nutritionally balanced meal should contain  at  least three  of the  five  major  food  groups, preferably  including those  food  groups recommended  for  increased consumption  by current  USDA Dietary  Guidelines  for  Americans and My Pyramid (i.e., fruits, vegetables, fat-free or low-fat milk  and milk  products  and whole grains).

CARU noted that the advertised Lunchables Meal – as sold with fruit – does satisfy CARU’s balanced meal requirement.
CARU recommended that the advertiser modify the commercial to feature all components of the product.

Kraft, in its advertiser’s statement, said the company appreciates  “working with CARU to resolve matters of this type and view[s] CARU as a valued partner in fostering exemplary conduct with respect to children’s advertising.”