Saturday, April 25, 2009

Kellogg's and Bad Science


Advertisements for Kellogg's Mini-Wheats in the U.S. claimed that children eating their cereal for breakfast were shown in a study to be 20% more attentive at school.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has now ruled this advertisement was false.

The 20% cited in the advertisement was recorded only by a handful of students.  In fact, only half of the students in the study showed any improvement at all.  Further, the cereal was compared to students that had not eaten any breakfast at all.  Wouldn't it have been better to compare Mini-Wheats to students eating a different breakfast?

So, Kellogg's chose to misleading report a poorly designed study.  Why would a major corporation play so loosely with its' credibility. 

Hat Tip: Quackwatch

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons (seanutbutter)


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