My Email to TV Ontario

TVO Kids and Advertising

While I am pleased to see that there are no commercials on TVO Kids, I am upset that you allow one entity to have what seems to be free advertising. The Bod Squad segments are extended advertisements for the Dairy Farmers of Ontario.

Without going into an extended discourse on the relative value of cow's milk to the human diet (suffice it to say that, despite popular wisdom, there is a considerable debate on its merits, including interesting cases of links to autism and even osteoporosis, despite prevailing popular opinion - try a MEDLINE search if you want confirmation) you are pushing products that some parents do not want their children to have for many reasons.

Many children are allergic to milk and many parents recognize that cow's milk is not the perfect food it is portrayed as being. In addition, many immigrants, who form a large portion of your audience, do not choose to include dairy products in their diet. And yet, they too are being forced to watch these skits that promote, more than any other type of food, dairy products. What is even more interesting is that there have been segments promoting chocolate milk, which is packed with sugar. That is not a healthy food choice. It also amazes me that pizza is promoted as a healthy food. Saturated animal fats are not healthy.

Sincerely,

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