Exhibit C in the federal crackdown on Frosted Mini-Wheats: a smiling figure of a Mini-Wheat guy, holding a piece of chalk next to a chalkboard that reads: “Clinically Shown to improve kids’ Attentiveness by nearly 20%” That’s what it said on the Mini-Wheats box, and all parents who have screamed at their children to sit down during breakfast can appreciate a bowl of cereal that produces a calming effect.

The Federal Trade Commission has put the kibosh on that claim in a settlement with Kellogg announced today. Unlike many things we read on cereal boxes, this claim actually had some science behind it. But the science wasn’t exactly what the Mini-Wheat guy claimed (video here).

The complaint alleges that, in fact, according to the clinical study referred to in Kellogg’s advertising, only about half the children who ate Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast showed any improvement in attentiveness, and only about one in nine improved by 20 percent or more.

The settlement sets this very high standard for cereal box claims:

The proposed settlement would bar Kellogg from making comparable claims about Frosted Mini-Wheats unless the claims are true and not misleading.

So the laboratory in Battle Creek, Mich., can get busy reformulating Mini-Wheats to increase their obedience effect. Despite the settlement, the Mini-Wheat guy was still holding forth Monday on the Kellogg web site about keeping the kids “full and focused” by ingesting the magic breakfast food.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Businesses in hot water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.