The Brands Feeding Your Children

Here’s something that should make your blood boil.

Kellogg’s has spent £5.7 million over 25 years to put its brand inside more than 3,000 schools. That’s roughly £1,900 per school. The Greggs Foundation runs over 1,000 breakfast clubs, feeding 75,000 children a day. PepsiCo has funnelled Quaker Oats and Tropicana into classrooms through the charity Magic Breakfast.

Sounds generous, doesn’t it?

But let’s do the maths. Kellogg’s annual revenue is around £12 billion. That £5.7 million, spread over 25 years, is roughly £228,000 a year. That’s not charity. That’s a rounding error on their marketing budget. And in return, they get their brand in front of millions of children every single morning, five days a week, for years.

Try buying that kind of brand exposure on television. You couldn’t afford it.

The BMJ investigated this in 2024 and found food industry branding all over school settings. Doctors and public health campaigners called it “stealth marketing”. Because that’s exactly what it is. You can’t advertise junk food to children on TV before 9pm. But you can put your logo on the breakfast table at 8am.

The government knows. They partnered with these same brands for the national free breakfast club scheme. Their defence? The companies provide “beneficial funding”.

Beneficial for whom? Not for the children who grow up thinking Kellogg’s and Greggs are trusted, normal, healthy parts of their morning routine.

We’re not feeding kid’s breakfast. We’re feeding them a lifetime of brand loyalty to ultra-processed food companies. And we’re doing it with a smile.

Your action today: Check what your children or grandchildren are being served at school breakfast club. Look at the brands on the packaging. Ask yourself: is this food, or is this marketing?