In late May, 50-year-old Li Yiqin finally received a group of visitors he had long been expecting. They were education experts from the Chinese Center for Healthy Education, an institute under the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Li is the deputy principal at Rizhao Foreign Language School, in Rizhao, Shandong province, one of the best schools in the province, with more than 5,000 students, and he cares passionately about their dietary habits.

The health education experts were conducting a survey on the dietary and fitness habits of students aged 7 to 15, as well as their health knowledge, in 24 schools in six cities in Shandong and Qinghai provinces, including Li’s.

The program is supported exclusively by Ferrero China and started in March in Beijing.

OK, I understand that this was some sort of CSR program of chocolatier Ferrero, sponsoring a survey of students’ dietary habits. But come on, couldn’t they have adopted a school or built a football field or something instead?

This is akin to a baijiu maker sponsoring a “healthy liver” initiative or a coal-fired power plant gathering information about air quality. No, I’m not saying that chocolate is as unhealthy as liquor (although I certainly abuse the hell out of it). Neither am I suggesting that Ferrero is going to take this survey data and exploit it for their China marketing campaign. Although, you never know.

It’s just that this smacks of conflict of interest and reminds me of those “Drink Responsibly” public service campaigns by American alcohol makers. Does Ferrero really want to make sure that kids maintain healthy diets?

This program ended with the release of a guideline on healthy eating. I’d love to see the section on chocolate.

via Ferrero hits sweet spot with school program (China Daily)

© Stan for China Hearsay, 2014. |
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