Kellogg won't advertise sugary cereals to kids

I read a number of articles on Kellogg's new guidelines for advertising nutritionally-questionable products, which I think most people probably approve of.

I couldn't help, however, having two non-nutritionally-correct thoughts on the subject:

One is that this is just what the TV industry needs these days -- losing another billion or so in advertising. (Actually, I don't know how much Kellogg spends or how much the net effect will be in lost advertising -- I'm just guessing it will be significant).

The other is that I wonder whether some of the money will simply move to in-store and other trade promo funding.

Weekend Quick Notes

Kellogg's is looking for growth in China, and word is that they are planning to buy a local food company (or two or three). They need to adapt their products to the culture, however, since Asians don't go for cold cereal with milk.

Automakers are going back to incentives. Big surprise -- even though they were talking big about cutting back a few months ago, as we reported here. "After sizable incentives last summer, automakers vowed to embrace value pricing, providing the lowest price available without incentives."

Fry's, a division of Kroger in Phoenix, will open a new format aimed both at Hispanics and at Anglos with a taste for Hispanic foods. Called Mercado, "the 66,284-square-foot store is designed to offer Mexican shoppers products they grew up with, and other shoppers new foods ..."