Michael Phelps Flakes Out with Paid Endorsement of Sugary Frosted Flakes Cereal

Olympian Michael Phelps Flakes Out with Paid Endorsement of Frosted Flakes Cereal - alt.health | Google Groups

NaturalNews.com
Originally published August 20 2008

Olympian Michael Phelps Flakes Out with Paid Endorsement of Frosted
Flakes Cereal
by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) Super-Olympian Michael Phelps, who famously follows a
horrendous junk food diet, has now signed a lucrative deal to promote
Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes. In doing so, he will
leverage his celebrity status to push sugary, processed foods onto a
generation of children who already suffer from unprecedented rates of
obesity and diabetes. Processed sugar, as you know, promotes both
diseases and causes nutritional deficiencies at the same time.

The deal has earned Phelps harsh criticism from some doctors, such as
nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sanai Medical Center. In a Daily
News article posted this morning, Solomon said, "I would not consider
Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian."

That's the understatement of the day. I would consider Frosted Flakes
to be the food of a generation of obese, diabetic, ADHD kids who need
real role models they can follow, not sellout junk food promoters who
trade fame for unethical profits.

Does Phelps have the right to promote Frosted Flakes? He has the legal
right, sure, but given his considerable notoriety, he has the moral
obligation to more carefully consider the consequences of his
endorsements. Still, to expect a junk-food-eating 23-year-old to
understand nutrition and ethics may be asking a bit too much, but it's
not exactly rocket science to understand that processed sugar promotes
obesity.

Michael "Sellout" Phelps
In my view, by endorsing Frosted Flakes cereal, Michael Phelps has
gone from a Super Olympian to a Super Sellout. He has now proven
himself no different than anybody else who pushes unhealthy substances
to American kids, other than the fact he can swim really fast. Why
couldn't Phelps have sought out a superfood company to endorse
instead? Or at least a healthy food product? (Answer: Because cereal
companies operate on much higher markups and have a lot more money to
burn on celebrity endorsements.)

Alchemists say you can't turn lead into gold, but with this Kellogg's
deal, Phelps has done something even more amazing: He's turned gold
into fool's gold, because sugared-up corn flakes is not the breakfast
of champions; it's the breakfast of fools.

Continuing the destructive alchemy, Phelps has also transformed
himself from a likeable champion to a corporate-sponsored jerk who
puts his own profits ahead of the welfare of his millions of fans.
While his fans get fat, Phelps gets rich. But money can't buy back the
lost opportunity to have a positive influence on our nation's youth.

There may be a day when Phelps realizes his error in judgment. When
his swimming career is over, if he's still eating and promoting junk
foods, he will join his many fans in experiencing the onset of
diabetes and obesity, and he'll come to realize that processed,
genetically-modified sugar is simply not the breakfast of champions.
It is the breakfast of an over-fed, under-nourished, sugared-up
generation of fat kids who are being put on dangerous medications to
treat diseases caused by poor nutritional habits. Way to go, Phelps!

I find it fascinating that the Olympics Committee has nothing to say
about all this. They have such strict rules about athletes' behavior
during the event. If you insult your fellow athletes, you can be
stripped of your medals. But if you insult the intelligence of your
fans, that's considered business as usual, apparently.

None of this, by the way, takes away from the fact that Phelps really
did earn eight gold medals. He is a fantastic swimmer, but he's a
lousy role model. And that's sad, because he could have been a true
champion on a whole new level by promoting healthful foods, green
products and socially-responsible organizations.

Swimmer Dara Torres, by comparison, is powered by superfoods
(LivingFuel) and healthy habits. She's an astonishing 41 years old and
still earned two silver medals. In my view, Dana is the far greater
champion.

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