Kellogg promised Rice Krispies 'helped children's immunity' — FTC came back a second time

In February 2009 Kellogg agreed to stop falsely claiming that Frosted Mini-Wheats improved kids' attentiveness. Five months later, Rice Krispies boxes carried a new health halo: 'now helps support your child's immunity', with '25 percent Daily Value of Antioxidants and Nutrients — Vitamins A, B, C, and E', and a back panel saying the cereal had 'been improved to include antioxidants and nutrients that your family needs to help them stay healthy'. The campaign launched in the H1N1 season, and immunity was the word parents were looking for.

The FTC found the claims dubious — the second time in a year it had said so about a Kellogg cereal, and commissioners noted it was 'particularly disconcerting' that the Rice Krispies claims had been prepared while Kellogg was making promises over Mini-Wheats. On 3 June 2010 Kellogg settled again, and this order was wider than any product: it barred claims of any health benefit of any Kellogg food unless backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence. Chairman Jon Leibowitz: 'We expect more from a great American company than making dubious claims — not once, but twice.'

Kellogg paid no money — it said it stood by its research but accepted the order to resolve the matter — yet the order carried teeth: $16,000 civil penalties per future violation, and the whole food line under a substantiation regime. Oregon's Department of Justice had separately pursued the same immunity claims earlier in 2010.