Telling lies to children (and their parents)

Nestle's lawyers have demanded that I correct this post - see the correction before you read on.

They must have some very strange strawberries growing in the patch over at Uncle Toby’s place. The aged gent apparently grows fruit which is around 72% sugar. Now those would be sweet little strawberries indeed.

The average strawberry growing in the ground round these parts comes in at only 4.6%. Perhaps Nestle (the owner of Uncle Toby’s) has had a scientific breakthrough. Because they are now heavily promoting a product which contains ‘1 Serve of Fruit’ in every snack, but manages to pack almost 16 times as much sugar in.

‘Nutritionist’ Lisa Guy is very happy with the new Fruit Fix. As a ‘busy mum’ she’s found a nutritious snack (which is '99% fruit ingredients') that she can feel good about feeding to her children.

Really? Let’s take a quick look at how a Strawberry Fruit Fix (SFF) stacks up against the strawberries it theoretically contains:

Protein: Strawberry 1% SFF 1.3%

Fat: Strawberry 0% SFF .5%

Sugar: Strawberry 4.6% SFF 72.7%

Fibre: Strawberry 2% SFF 7.3%

Well I guess they have about the same amount of protein ...

I’ve become pretty good at seeing how, with just the right shade of rose coloured glasses on, a marketer can spin the description of junk food into healthy kids food, but this one defies even my best efforts.

Apparently the folks over at the National Heart Foundation were able to exercise their imaginations to just the right degree, because they’ve bestowed one of their highly prized ticks on this product.

On what planet is a ‘food’ which almost entirely consists of sugar, able to be described as a healthy and nutritious snack for children?

Given what we know about the addictive qualities of fructose, perhaps the name Fruit Fix is no accident. Nestle, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Naturally, I've lodged complaints with the Advertising Standards Bureau and the ACCC.