02/01/06 Cartoon agendas?

Can we please let children be children; we have lost our innocence when even cartoons promote agendas. The Center for Science and the Public Interest is taking on Sponge Bob by suing Kellogg's who sponsors, and Viacom, who makes the show for using a beloved character to market junk food. Citing the fact that that pre-schoolers can not discern a commercial from a segment a spokesman for the Center says 98 percent of the ads Kellogg' airs on Saturday mornings promote sugary foods. Wait a minute a whole generation of natural food and organic aficionados grew up unscathed by Tony the Tiger pitching frosted flakes. I am more concerned about cartoons becoming a platform for organic elitism. On one episode of Stanley, the little fellow chastises his father for using traditional lawn and garden products, while a teacher on Higglytown Heroes warns her class that they must eat only organic apples for fear of being poisoned by pesticides. After that rhetoric I'll take Tony the Tiger any day. I'm Susan Allen and this is Food Forethought. Source: New York times 1/19/06