SA doctor slams controversial Target sleepwear promoting sugary cereals to children

A leading SA medico has taken aim at Target for using “kids as walking billboards” amid an obesity epidemic. Have your say.

Target has been slammed for promoting sugary cereals to children on its latest sleepwear collection. Picture: Target Australia

A prominent South Australian doctor has slammed one of the nation’s biggest retailers over a controversial line of sleepwear.

Target Australia has launched their latest collection featuring the logos of some of Kellogg’s most popular breakfast cereals, including Frosted Flakes, Rice Bubbles and Fruit Loops.

The collection is offered in sizes for men, women and children and Dr James Muecke – SA’s Lieutenant Governor and the 2020 Australian of the Year – said the collaboration was irresponsible.

“I was very disturbed, kids being used as walking billboards,” he told 7NEWS.

“This is just another example of the predatory yet very clever and insidious marketing tactics of the ultra processed food industry.

“We have an obesity epidemic in Australia.”

The collection is available in sizes for men, woman and children. Picture: Target Australia

Dr Muecke, an eye surgeon who has campaigned for years about the health dangers of sugar and related illnesses like diabetes, explained one standard cup of Frosted Flakes contains three teaspoons of added sugar.

“I suspect kids don’t stop at one cup … it’s not real food,” he said.

“These businesses receive about $5bn every year in tax breaks to market their unhealthy products at us. We need to see this sort of predatory marketing come to an end.”

The Advertiser approached shoppers near the Centrepoint Target in Rundle St.

Norwood mum Shinae Haider, 31, said: “I don’t think we should be advertising any kind of bigger brands to monetize them any further … And we should encourage healthy eating – maybe apples pyjamas would be better.”

Sue from Melbourne, 32, who did not give her surname, said it was “just the nature of a place like Target”.

“They are trying to make brands like Disney or Kellogg fashionable but also it’s just another form of marketing,” she said.

Target has dropped the price for the children’s line to from $22 to $16 and its website shows the pyjamas are in stock at a limited number of South Australian stores. Online purchase is still available.

The department store chain has defended the creative decision and said the collection taps into a nostalgia trend.

The retailer said its customers were longing for happier and carefree times, and it planned to continue to feature brands that create those memories.