Kids Food Allergies Blog

I don’t know whether any of you have been following the flap over the controversial Motrin baby-wearing ad.  If you haven’t seen it (or read a transcript), click here.  In short, the ad created an uproar among angry moms (and dads) who went en masse to social networking sites (such as Twitter and YouTube) and blogs to express their rage.  Motrin pulled the ad and apologized.

What is interesting to me — and I think to the food allergy community — is the larger lesson of how blogs and social networking sites can be used to send messages to producers and manufacturers.  On issues that are important to us all, we are much more likely to get producers/manufacturers to listen if we take a more collective online activist stance.  Perhaps we want to ask a large scale manufacturer to dedicate a nut-free facility to produce cookies (attention Nabisco) so we can feel comfortable letting our kids eat oreos.   Or ask a large scale candy producer to sell chocolate made in nut-free facilities, particularly around Halloween. (I believe Nestle already sells nut-free chocolate in Canada.)   I also think it should be a rule (at least a rule of common sense) that companies that have peanut free facilities, like Barbara’s Bakery, should make all kid-friendly foods in those facilities.  Why make Snackimals animal crackers in a facility shared with peanuts???)

Is there anything you care about that you think could gain enough momentum to attract attention from manufacturers?