Big Ceral

Food
Researched:
Breakfast
Cereal
 Focus
of
Research:
The
Politics
of
the
Cereal
Industry
 Name:
Jenny
Fink
 May
18,
2010
 
 
 Big
Cereal
and
The
American
Government
 
 
 Objective
 The
goal
of
this
research
was
to
uncover
the
connection
between
the
dollars
that
 Americans
use
to
purchase
cereal
and
the
political
events
that
the
cereal
industry
has
had
a
 hand
in
determining.

As
much
of
the
data
is
difficult
to
uncover,
this
paper
first
sets
out
to
 establish
basic
knowledge
of
the
politics
of
lobbying
and
various
political
interest
groups.

 Then,
the
connections
are
drawn
between
big
cereal’s
dollars
and
politicians
and
 legislation.





 
 
 Summary
of
Findings
 
 Introduction
to
the
World
of
Cereal:
 Nearly
every
American
family
currently
alive
currently
has
a
box
of
cereal
in
their
 home.

With
the
current
social
focus
being
on
obesity
and
weight
loss,
the
primary
focus
 when
considering
breakfast
cereal
generally
centers
upon
its
nutritional
content.

However,
 the
political
implications
of
the
gigantic,
ever‐growing
mega‐companies
that
manufacture
 and
distribute
cereal
are
just
as
important.

Like
any
large
corporation,
they
work
hard
to
 create
a
favorable
environment
to
sell
their
product.

This
involves
maintaining
a
firm
 grasp
on
two
of
the
most
influential
ways
that
Americans
receive
and
internalize
 information:
government
policy
and
marketing.

General
Mills
and
The
Kellogg
Corporation
 are
currently
the
two
largest
producers
of
breakfast
cereals
in
the
United
States.1

As
large
 corporations
they
work
hard
to
manipulate
government
policy
in
a
direction
that
is
as
 favorable
as
possible
to
the
selling
of
breakfast
cereals.

While
consumers
are
able
to
view
 the
way
their
health
is
affecting
by
reading
the
label
on
the
side
of
the
cereal
box,
seeing
 what
political
affects
their
cereal
dollars
are
causing
is
much
more
difficult
to
find.

In
this
 paper
I
will
locate
the
government
policies
and
participants
that
the
General
Mills
and
...