Breakfast benefits brands

So here we go again; research funded by Kelloggs has founds shocking numbers of children in the UK arrive at school without having had breakfast.  Not good news; unless that is you see it as a market opportunity. . .

This promotional deal from the afore mentioned company promises to donate cash to school breakfast clubs, which is all well and good, but I always thought education was about learning to enquire and not take things at face value?

So I did a quick and dirty straw poll of cereals in order to compare the cost of a breakfast.

Non-branded Porridge Oats come in at 75p per kilo - enough for plenty of healthy and filling breakfasts.

Kelloggs Cornflakes, by comparison come in around £4.50 per kilo.  That's 6 times the cost.

By the time we get to the sugar-coated varieties favoured by young children (Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and Sugar Puffs) the cost comes in at £6.00 per kilo - 8 times the cost of the oats.  And let's not even think about the effect of sugar decay for those children who aren't encouraged to brush their teeth afterwards.

So for a £400 cash donation and a "gift" of £50 free Kelloggs vouchers a school receives they will actually engage in subliminal advertising of Kelloggs brand to their children.  Interestingly the application page ask questions about level of need in order to prioritise schools in the most deprived communities -

"Is your breakfast club located in a designated area of social or economic need e.g. a Community First area in England, Communities First area in Wales. Please tick one box:"

"What percentage of children at your school have free school meals?"

(text taken from Kelloggs 'Apply for Funding' page)

I can't help feel uneasy about such targeted campaigns - Well educated, numerate parents will be better armed to see through such 'research' which is of course exactly why the funding is targeting deprived communities.  Many parents will be coerced by their children into buying Kelloggs brands in the belief that they are helping their local school.

Perhaps a good response from schools would be to encourage parents to switch from branded cereals to unbranded oats for one week and donate the difference to the school's breakfast club.  Switching from sugar-coated varieties for one week could save approx £5 per family - for a school with 400 children on roll and an average of two children per family this would generate £1000 in one week.  Suddenly the £400 cash donation doesn't look so generous. . .