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Talk of the day: Burger King trims the fat in meals for kids

By Times Staff Writer
Published September 13, 2007

Burger King pledged Wednesday to offer healthier fast-food items for children younger than 12, with plans to sell and market flame-broiled Chicken Tenders and apples cut to resemble thick-cut french fries. The world's second-largest hamburger chain said it has set nutritional guidelines to follow when targeting young children in advertising, including limiting ads to Kids Meals that contain no more than 560 calories, less than 30 percent of calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of calories from added sugars. The meals will be available in restaurants sometime in 2008, the company said.

Better savor those fish & chips, bloke

Thinking of a night out in London? Don't forget your wallet. London is the most expensive dining capital in the world, restaurant rating company Zagat said Tuesday. The average meal in London costs just over $79, beating out Paris, at nearly $72, and Tokyo, at just over $71, according to the company's survey of 5,300 Londoners. That makes eating out in the British capital more than twice as expensive as New York, where the average meal costs $39. The prices include drinks and tips. London is already the world's second-costliest city, according to a survey published by Mercer Human Resource in June. Moscow was rated as the world's most expensive, while New York, which served as the survey's base, ranked 15th.

Yahoo gets social with British site

In its latest move to beef up its marketing muscle, Yahoo Inc. will sell most of the display advertising for England's leading online social network, Bebo. The partnership extends Yahoo's efforts to boost advertising revenue from other Web sites besides its own and snap out of a financial funk that has sapped its stock and shaken up its management. Increasingly popular social-networking sites like Bebo and the market leaders MySpace.com and Facebook.com are contributing to Yahoo's challenges in selling advertising on its own site. The Bebo deal marks the first time that Yahoo has agreed to supply advertising to a social-networking site.

Colorful cola battle plays out in China

China's cola wars just got a little ... confusing. In most countries, the major rival colas are delineated by color: Coca-Cola's can is red, Pepsi's is blue. But in China, Pepsi has departed from tradition and launched a red can as part of a new marketing campaign. Pepsi officials say they made the move to support China's national sports team, coordinating the design of Pepsi's can with the color of China's national flag. But the new can, which is all red except for a blue stripe on one side, has raised at least a few eyebrows because of its resemblance to the Coca-Cola's Olympics-themed cans. Coca-Cola officials appeared mostly amused by Pepsi's move when shown photos of the red can. "Red? Great idea. Why didn't we think of that?" said Kelly Brooks, an Atlanta-based Coca-Cola spokesman.

[Last modified September 13, 2007, 01:04:55]