Doctors have their stethoscopes in knots over the fact that Olympian Michael Phelps has decided to lend his image to a breakfast cereal, Frosted Flakes. From the New York Daily News:
Olympic legend Michael Phelps will appear on boxes of the Kellogg’s brand sugar cereal, drawing sharp criticism from health experts worried about the message he’ll be sending to children across America.
“I would not consider Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian,” said nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sinai Medical Center.
“I would rather see him promoting Fiber One. I would rather see him promoting oatmeal. I would even rather see him promoting Cheerios.”
Cheerios!
Posit that violent movies, homicidal video games, or degrading song lyrics might be, on balance, a bad thing for our society, and you’re a budding censor. But the same sort of liberal do-gooders who couldn’t think of a word of criticism for, say, Ludacris or Grand Theft Auto, are exercised about Frosted Flakes, a serving of which has all of 110 calories. For comparison, a cheeseburger Happy Meal has 700 calories. And there’s nothing wrong with Frosted Flakes. (In fact, they’re … you know.)
And the same sort of whingers who say Phelps is going to make kids fat are, at the same time, arguing that Kate Moss is making kids anorexic. Maybe we could get Moss in Dior ads on the back of those boxes of Frosted Flakes.
No fat kid is going to get a micron fatter because of Michael Phelps’s appearing on a cereal box. In fact, broadcasting his image frequently might send a different message: “Go out and get some exercise if you want to look more like this.” And of all the junk that we shovel down the throats of our sedentary kids, it’s hard to believe that Frosted Flakes are a top concern.