(by 15 people)
When is a Gumball not a Gumball? When it's a Power Cell Energy Ball
As a physician, nutrition instructor and parent, I find several things wrong with the Power Cell Energy Ball product and marketing strategy. This company is promoting a caffeinated, vitamin-fortified gumball as a 'nutritious snack' with all the visual marketing targeting children, tweens and teens.
Power Cell Energy Balls is a gumball-like product with "the energy boost of an energy drink" and the "nutrition of an energy bar." It is cleverly marketed in a gumball machine display designed to catch the eye of children and adults, yet clearly states on the food label portion (hidden in the back of the display that I saw) that this product is
Not Recommended for Children!
While caffeine may be one of the only legal stimulants allowed in food, it is generally not something that most parents want their child consuming in large amounts on a daily basis. The gumball-like Energy Ball contains 40 mg of caffeine, about the amount of a strong cup of coffee.
In addition, Vitamin B6 is present in the energy ball at 100% of an adult's need. Vitamin B6 is known to cause permanent neurological damage when consumed at toxic levels.
Image Source: © Kirsti A Dyer.
What is a PowerCell Energy Ball?
It is really not a gumball...
According to the Power Cell website:- It's not gum. It's not candy. So what IS it?
The POWERCELL is a chewy, healthy, mouth watering confection that delivers a powerful burst of 100% natural instant energy, and follows that up with long lasting natural sustainable energy that lasts for hours.
Parents Be Aware
There's Caffeine and More hiding in Those Gumballs (Energy Balls)!
Their Fine Print - The Caution
Cautions Placed on the back of the Display
A Reminder to Always Read the Fine Print:
CAUTION: Each Power Cell (tm) contains 40 mg of Caffeine. Not recommended for children, pregnant or breast-feeding women, or caffeine sensitive persons.
This warning label was on the backside of the machine in our grocery store, one that I had to search for.
The warning labels that advised children *not* take this product were difficult to view to read on our local Power Pump Energy Ball Display.
Quote Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Pump Display.
Image Source: © Kirsti A Dyer.
Polling College Students
Isn't it a gumball?
Since this lens was originally created in Fall 2007, a photo of the Power Cell Energy Ball Tower (from the company website) has been shown now to five classes of college nutrition. In each of these classes the students are asked what it was.Out of these five classes only one student did not guess 'gumball.' That student attended the New Food & Beverage Product Trade shows and had seen the Power Cell Energy Balls being marketed as a new innovative product.
The Power Cell Energy Ball display has been used as a nutrition and advertising learning example with five semesters of college students.
Image Source: Powercell Tower on Display, Highlighting Gumball Machine. © 2007 Kirsti A. Dyer
What Does a Power Cell Energy Ball Provide?
Energy Boost from an Energy Drink - Nutrition from an Energy Bar
PowerCell consumers are encouraged to:
The Power Cells Display features two images depicting their formulas for "Super Energy" and "Super Nutrition."
The "Super Energy" formula equates two Power Cell Balls with an energy drink, and states that it 'Gives you the Energy Boost Of An Energy Drink." People are encouraged to "Pump Yourself Up."
Information Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Cell Display Tower.
Image Source: © Kirsti A Dyer.
- Pump Yourself Up! by consuming "The Ultimate Energy Snack"
The Power Cells Display features two images depicting their formulas for "Super Energy" and "Super Nutrition."
The "Super Energy" formula equates two Power Cell Balls with an energy drink, and states that it 'Gives you the Energy Boost Of An Energy Drink." People are encouraged to "Pump Yourself Up."
Information Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Cell Display Tower.
Image Source: © Kirsti A Dyer.
Unless parents read the fine print on the tower, they won't realize that they are giving their child a apparent "candy" that is not intended for child.
Power Cell Energy Balls as an Example for College Nutrition Students
What's Wrong with this Picture and Advertising Campaign?
I use 'real life' examples of products and advertising campaigns for test questions for my college nutrition students to get them to become more savvy nutrition and health consumers.
The Power Cell Energy Balls and Power Pump Display offer several different nutritional and marketing learning points for the students to discover on an exam question.
The Power Cell Energy Balls and Power Pump Display offer several different nutritional and marketing learning points for the students to discover on an exam question.
- Power Cell Display - A Gum Ball Dispenser
Gum Ball Machines vs. Top of Power Pump Dispenser
Photo Source: Jason Briton. Gumballs at the Mall. Used with Permission from Fulco Studios. - Power Cell Energy Ball - A Gum Ball-like Product
Gumballs vs. Power Cell Energy Balls
Photo Source: Dawn Allyn. Colorful Gumballs. Royalty Free Use.
Image Source: Kirsti A. Dyer. - Marketing or Structure Function Claims
A Dietary Supplement For Extreme Energy and Mental Alertness*
* This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. - Marketing Angles
Designing a product that looks like a gumball and selling the product in a gumball-style dispenser that is enticing to children.
Marketing the product to schools as a way of raising funds. - Website Reliability
All of the various franchise opportunity websites that I found as well as the home site for the Power Cell Energy Ball failed to pass the Website Reliability criteria. - Marketing Drugs to Children
Marketing the Power Cell Energy Ball seems very much like the marketing of candy cigarettes done decades ago except now the manufactures are marketing caffeine, another product with an addictive component.
Tastes Like a Tootie Roll?
What's Wrong with this Picture?
The Power Pump and Power Cell Energy Balls
One of the Power Cell Towers options is a special co-branding sign in this case including a logo for the store who is displaying the tower at the top of the tower.Other examples of this co-branding option that appears on their website, companies can choose featured on their site, the PowerCell Tower displays images from Walmart and the Children's Miracle Network at the top of the tower. Displaying child-friendly companies leaves consumers with the impression that these companies are endorsing or supporting the product and that the product is for children.
In the store where we saw the Power Cell display, it was only 6 feet away from the gum ball and candy dispensers and in a location going out of the store.
The Power Pump has been designed to look like another candy dispenser, so children will be drawn to the colorful red display as parents are trying to leave the store.
Frazzled parents will probably not have the time to notice the disclaimer on the back that:
- Each Power Cell contains 40 mg of Caffeine.
Not recommended for children.
Urgent care or emergency room physicians and staff may be puzzled in trying to figure out what is wrong if the child is seen for care. Because the child didn't eat or do anything unusual to bring on the symptoms of caffeine toxicity and neither the child or the parent may remember consuming 'a piece of candy' (the Power Cell Ball).
Unless a parent read the food label and warning information that I found on the back of the display they will not realize that the child had consumed the equivalent of a cup of coffee in the apparently 'harmless' looking gum ball.
Quote Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Pump Display.
Image Source: Powercell Tower on Display © 2007 Kirsti A. Dyer
The Marketing Hype
...its bright red coloring and "Pump Yourself Up!" message on top draw people like a magnet.
Power Pump Designed to Stand Out like a Beacon
Drawing in Children to this Display for a Product Not intended for Children
The company seems to downplay the fact that the Power Pump display is conveniently designed like the typical gum ball dispenser to appeal to children, tweens and teens.When I asked my 7 and 5 year old what they thought this machine was designed to do they both replied that it was designed to sell gum balls...the desired marketing effect.
A nine-year-old child of one of the other lensmasters declared that the website looked to be 'YUMMY' which is concerning, given the warning statement on the back that the product is not intended for children.
According to the Power Cell website:
- The Power Pump machine stands out like a beacon. It is a full 7 feet tall.
In virtually any type of business location, its bright red coloring and "Pump Yourself Up!" message on top draw people [and children in particular] like a magnet.
Note that the bold and the parenthetical information are my emphases.
They fail to mention their own disclaimer on the back of the Power Pump Display:
- Each Power Cell contains 40 mg of Caffeine.
Not recommended for children.
Quote Source: Power Cell Website.
Image Source: Powercell Tower on Display, Highlighting Gumball Machine. © 2007 Kirsti A. Dyer
Their Supplement Facts
The Power Cell Energy Ball is not considered to be a 'food' so it does not have a typical food label.
This is the supplement fact label for the Power Cell Energy Ball from their website and the local Power Cell Display:
The amount of the vitamins in the Power Cell Energy Ball are based on a 2000 calorie diet, for adults, not for children.
Because of their smaller size, children are at an increased risk for toxicities from vitamin excesses, in this case, potentially getting megadoses of Vitamin B6, which could over time ultimately lead to permanent nerve damage.
Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Pump Display.
Image: © Kirsti A Dyer.
This is the supplement fact label for the Power Cell Energy Ball from their website and the local Power Cell Display:
The amount of the vitamins in the Power Cell Energy Ball are based on a 2000 calorie diet, for adults, not for children.
Because of their smaller size, children are at an increased risk for toxicities from vitamin excesses, in this case, potentially getting megadoses of Vitamin B6, which could over time ultimately lead to permanent nerve damage.
Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Pump Display.
Image: © Kirsti A Dyer.
Vitamin B6 Toxicity
How Much Vitamin B6 is Too Much for Children?
The upper limit of safety for vitamin B6 established by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine for children, tweens and teens is as follows:
- Children:
* 1-3 years 30 mg/day
* 4-8 years 40 mg/day
Tweens, Teens
* 9-13 years 60 mg/day
* 14-18 years 80 mg/day
- Nutrition Fact Sheet: Vitamin B6
- Information on Vitamin B6 from the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
- Vitamin B6 - Micronutrient Information Center
- Information on Vitamin B6 from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
Their Proprietary Blend
Concerns about the Safety of a 'Natural Product' for Children, Tweens & Teens
The Proprietary 'Energy Boosting' Blend consists of:Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, Fibersol-2 (tm) Maltodextrin, Gelatin, Creatine Monohydrate, Panax Ginseng Root, Caffeine, Ribose, Guarana Seed Extract and Taurine.
There are no daily values established for these additional products.
They fail to mention that the proprietary formula of this 100% natural, healthy, nutritional product was created for adults and adult consumption (based on a 2000 calorie daily diet) and was not formulated (designed) for use by children, tweens and teens.
More Advertising:
- [Power Cell Energy Balls] makes an IDEAL PRODUCT for young students because instead of junk food, these delicious treats are 100% natural, healthy, nutritional products.
Remember, teens and pre-teens are already consuming energy drinks and energy bars at a fantastic rate. This product is a NATURAL for them; less expensive and more convenient!
The safe use of many of these other natural ingredients by children, tweens and teens has not been studied.
People often think that just because something is 'natural,' it is safer for you. However, rattlesnake venom and belladonna (nightshade) are both natural and potentially deadly products.
Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Pump Display.
Image: © Kirsti A Dyer.
Not a Gumball...Tastes Like a Tootsie Roll
(How many adults eat Tootsie Rolls?)
What Else is in a Power Cell Energy Ball?
Power Cell Energy Ball - Other Ingredient List
OTHER INGREDIENTS: Corn Syrup, Oat Flour, Dextrose, Icing Sugar, Chocolate (sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, soybean lecithin, artificial and natural flavor, milk ingredients), Caramel (glucose, sugar, milk ingredients, modified palm kernel oil, mono & di-glycerides, salt, flavor), Honey, Canola Oil, Tapioca Dextrin, Cocoa Powder, Cinnamon, Lemon Juice, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Soy Lecithin, Glycerine, Artificial Color.
Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Pump Display.
Source: Power Cell Website and Local Power Pump Display.
Children and Caffeine
How Much Caffeine Should my Children Consume?
Although the physical effects of caffeine have been studied for years, the effect of caffeine on children is still a new field of research.
Because of their smaller size, children are at an increased risk for side effects from caffeine sources. The same amount of caffeine affects a smaller child much more than a larger adult.
The United States still has not established official guidelines for the amounts of caffeine. Some guidelines can be determined from the Canadian government makes caffeine recommendations by age:
These recommended maximums are equivalent to about one to two 12-oz (355 ml) cans of cola a day.
One of these Power Cell Energy Balls would be close to exceeding the recommend caffeine intake for 4- to 6-year-olds, possibly some of the biggest consumers of gum balls. Two would be close to exceeding the recommendations for 10- to 12-year-olds.
Source: Health Canada. 2006. It's Your Health - Caffeine.
Because of their smaller size, children are at an increased risk for side effects from caffeine sources. The same amount of caffeine affects a smaller child much more than a larger adult.
The United States still has not established official guidelines for the amounts of caffeine. Some guidelines can be determined from the Canadian government makes caffeine recommendations by age:
* 45 mg per day for 4- to 6-year-olds
* 62.5 mg per day for 7- to 9-year-olds
* 85 mg per day for 10-to 12-year-olds
These recommended maximums are equivalent to about one to two 12-oz (355 ml) cans of cola a day.
One of these Power Cell Energy Balls would be close to exceeding the recommend caffeine intake for 4- to 6-year-olds, possibly some of the biggest consumers of gum balls. Two would be close to exceeding the recommendations for 10- to 12-year-olds.
Source: Health Canada. 2006. It's Your Health - Caffeine.
Articles on Caffeine Intake in Children
How Much is Too Much?
- A sip into dangerous territory
- An article from 2001 from the monitor on psychology where psychologists are calling for more research on caffeine's impact on children.
- Caffeine and Your Child
- Although it's inevitable your child may get caffeine at some time, it's a good idea to keep caffeine consumption to a minimum, especially in younger kids.
- Caffeine Confusion
- Should kids have caffeine? And what is it exactly? Find out in this article for kids.
- Kids and Caffeine
- A child who has tea, chocolate milk, or a soda with breakfast, or who eats chocolate candy, cookies, or cereal may be experiencing the side effects of caffeine & appear "wired."
- Caffeine and Children
- An article from MetroActive Features on the impact of Caffeine and Children.
- Rousing Kids to Caffeine's Consequences
- From the Washingtonpost.com an article lookins at Caffeine's Consequences in Children.
- Caffeine Raises Blood Pressure, Lowers Heart Rate In Kids
- New study showing that caffeine raises blood pressure and lowers heart rate in children.
More Article Alerting Parents about the Caffeine and Children
From the Type-A Mom Site
- There's Caffeine hiding in Those Gumballs (Energy Balls)!
- Another article that I wrote for the Type-A Mom website alerting parents about an energy product deceptively marketed to children.
- Reasons to Minimize Caffeine Use by Children, Tweens and Teens
- This article looks at why caffeine is not a good drug for children, tweens or teens and some of the other reasons to limit kids' caffeine consumption that include the affect on behavior, obesity, nutritional deficiencies and the link with dental cavities.
Power Cell Marketed to Schools as a Fund Raiser
A Real Answer to School's Budgetary Challenges?
The company is also marketing the Power Pump display to schools for the schools and booster programs to use as a fund-raiser answer to their budgetary challenges.Franchise licensees are promised great profits if the children, tweens and teens can be enticed to consume these products at the rate of one a day.
While the advertising states for the school programs that:
- The Power Pump Franchise Owner will Donate 10% of the Gross Revenue of the machine to the School.
- ** The percentage donated to a school under this program can vary.
In my opinion, having the Power Cell Energy Balls present in a school setting is like having a Vivarin or No-Doz (other caffeine products) dispenser available for children, tweens and teens, hopefully something that most parents, teachers and administrators would *not* want to be doing.
Quote Source: Power Cell Website.
Image Source: Modified Microsoft Image.
Their Structure-Function Advertising Claims
A Dietary Supplement For Extreme Energy and Mental Alertness*
As noted in the formal definition for Structure-Function Claims below these are advertising statement that describe the relationship between a nutrient or other substance in food and its role in the body.
The claims made by the Power Cell Energy Ball include:
A Dietary Supplement For Extreme Energy and Mental Alertness*
They claim that their products helps with or is:
Quote Source: Power Cell Website and Product Display.
The claims made by the Power Cell Energy Ball include:
A Dietary Supplement For Extreme Energy and Mental Alertness*
They claim that their products helps with or is:
- - Advanced Performance
- Advanced Alertness
- Fast Acting
- Longer Lasting
- Nutritious
Quote Source: Power Cell Website and Product Display.
What is a Structure-Function Claim?
Official Nutrition Definitions from the Textbook I Use
A Structure Function Claim is a statement that characterizes the relationship between a nutrient or other substance in food and its role in the body.
Structure function claims can be made by product and food manufacturers without any FDA approval.
Source: Whitney E. Rolfes SR. Understanding Nutrition. 11th edition. Belmont, CA: Thompson Higher Education, p. 59.
Structure function claims can be made by product and food manufacturers without any FDA approval.
Source: Whitney E. Rolfes SR. Understanding Nutrition. 11th edition. Belmont, CA: Thompson Higher Education, p. 59.
Basic Information on Caffeine
From Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Recommendations for Caffeine:
More information about Caffeine:
Classification: Stimulant
Sources: Naturally occurring in coffee, tea, cocoa, coffee-flavored yogurt and frozen desserts.
Additive in soft drinks, gum, and waters.
Only Drug Naturally Present: Caffeine is the only drug that is present naturally or added to widely consumed foods (quinine is the other drug used in foods).
Addictive Qualities: It is mildly addictive, one possible reason that makers of soft drinks add it to their products.
Withdrawal Symptoms: Many coffee drinkers experience withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, irritability, sleepiness, and lethargy, when they stop drinking coffee.
Avoid for Women who are Pregnant or Wishing to Become Pregnant: Caffeine increases the risk of miscarriages (and possibly birth defects) and inhibits fetal growth; it should be avoided by women who are pregnant or considering becoming pregnant. It also may make it harder to get pregnant (but is not a reliable birth-control method).
Side Effects: Caffeine also keeps many people from sleeping, causes jitteriness, and affects calcium metabolism.
Amount Consumed: The caffeine in a cup or two of coffee is harmless to most people [not necessarily to children].
When to Cut Back: If you drink more than a couple of cups of coffee or cans of caffeine-containing soda per day, experience symptoms noted above, are at risk of osteoporosis, or are pregnant, you should rethink your habit.
Source: Adapted from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Food Additives - CPSI's Food Safety.
- Cut Back. Not toxic, but large amounts may be unsafe or promote bad nutrition.
Certain People Should Avoid.
More information about Caffeine:
Classification: Stimulant
Sources: Naturally occurring in coffee, tea, cocoa, coffee-flavored yogurt and frozen desserts.
Additive in soft drinks, gum, and waters.
Only Drug Naturally Present: Caffeine is the only drug that is present naturally or added to widely consumed foods (quinine is the other drug used in foods).
Addictive Qualities: It is mildly addictive, one possible reason that makers of soft drinks add it to their products.
Withdrawal Symptoms: Many coffee drinkers experience withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, irritability, sleepiness, and lethargy, when they stop drinking coffee.
Avoid for Women who are Pregnant or Wishing to Become Pregnant: Caffeine increases the risk of miscarriages (and possibly birth defects) and inhibits fetal growth; it should be avoided by women who are pregnant or considering becoming pregnant. It also may make it harder to get pregnant (but is not a reliable birth-control method).
Side Effects: Caffeine also keeps many people from sleeping, causes jitteriness, and affects calcium metabolism.
Amount Consumed: The caffeine in a cup or two of coffee is harmless to most people [not necessarily to children].
When to Cut Back: If you drink more than a couple of cups of coffee or cans of caffeine-containing soda per day, experience symptoms noted above, are at risk of osteoporosis, or are pregnant, you should rethink your habit.
Source: Adapted from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Food Additives - CPSI's Food Safety.
Articles on Caffeine including Recommended Amounts in Products
Caffeine in Adults
- Caffeine Content
- Caffeine Content in a variety of Food & Drugs.
- Label Caffeine Content of Foods, Scientists Tell FDA
- The Center for Science in the Public Intereste has been urging the FDA to label the caffeine content of foods, since 1997.
- CSPI Health and Nutrition Campaigns: Caffeine
- From the Health, Diet and Nutrition section an entire unit devoted to Caffeine.
What happens when you get too much caffeine?
Articles and Information on Caffeine Overdose
Articles and Information on Caffeine Overdose
- Caffeine Overdose
- From Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia an article on Caffeine Overdose.
- Caffeine
- An article from the Australian Drug Foundation's Druginfo Clearinghouse. Includes information on Caffeine Poisoning or Overdose.
Symptoms of Caffeine Overdose in Adults
A person would have to consume 5-10 grams of caffeine or 80 cups of strong coffee or equivalents in a short period of time to suffer a fatal overdose.
Symptoms of too much caffeine in adults may include the following.
Source: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. 2006. Caffeine overdose.
Symptoms of too much caffeine in adults may include the following.
Source: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. 2006. Caffeine overdose.
- Sleeping trouble
- Muscle twitching
- Confusion
- Increased urination
- Increased thirst
- Fever
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Rapid heart beat
- Dizziness
- Hallucinations
- Breathing trouble
- Irregular heartbeat
- In and out of consciousness
- Convulsions
- Death
Symptoms of Caffeine Overdose in Babies and Young Children
In smaller children, caffeine poisoning can be seen with much smaller doses, such as up to one gram of caffeine equal to approximately 12 energy drinks, cups of coffee or consuming caffeine in food products. The amount would be less for babies and toddlers.
Symptoms in babies and young children may include the following list.
Source: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. 2006. Caffeine overdose.
Symptoms in babies and young children may include the following list.
Source: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. 2006. Caffeine overdose.
- Muscles are very tense, then very relaxed
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Rapid, deep breathing
- Rapid heartbeat
- Tremors
- Low blood pressure
- Shock
- Death
Caveat Emptor
Let the buyer beware
Concerns about Website Reliability
Difficulty Finding the Company Site
As part of my College nutrition course, I teach my nutrition students how to determine website reliability based on several different factors or criteria.The criteria they use to evaluate websites include:
- 1. Accuracy - The website lists the publishing author & institution and provides a way of contacting him/her.
2. Authority - The website lists the author credentials. Its domain is a preferred one (.edu, .gov, .org, or .net).
3. Objectivity - The website provides accurate information with limited advertising and it is objective in presenting the information.
4. Currency - The website is current. Pages are updated regularly with up-to-date links.
5. Coverage - Information can be viewed properly. There are not limits due to fees, browser technology, or software requirement.
Not only do the franchise sites fail the website reliability evaluations, but the main site does also. I was required to give a name and a email address to access the information on their website.
Source: Olin and Uris Libraries, Cornell University. 1998. Five criteria for evaluating Web pages.
Original Source: Kapoun, Jim. "Teaching undergrads WEB evaluation: A guide for library instruction." C&RL News (July/August 1998): 522-523.
Image Source: Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment. True Life in the Far West, 200 page pamphlet, illus., Worcester, Massachusetts, c. 1905.
Remember Candy Cigarettes?
Could Caffeine Gumballs become the Next Candy Cigarette?
A study published in 2007 found that a history of candy cigarette use was associated with increased risk of ever and current smoking among a nationally representative online sample of adults.The odds of the adults smoking increased as their candy cigarette use increased. Based on the findings from their study the researchers went on to conclude that:
Elimination of candy cigarettes may protect children from products that promote the social acceptability of smoking.
Source: Klein JD, Thomas RK, Sutter EJ. History of childhood candy cigarette use is associated with tobacco smoking by adults. Prev Med. 2007 Jul;45(1):26-30. Epub 2007 Apr 24.
Photo Source: Once was the cigarette of choice for my now adult kids. Some Rights Reserved. Saffanna. Creative Commons License.
- Do candy cigarettes encourage young people to smoke?
- An article published in the British Medical Journal in 2000 about Candy cigarettes.
- Candy Cigarettes May Lead to the Real Thing - healthfinder.gov
- Adult smokers much more likely to have played with them as kids, study finds.
- History of childhood candy cigarette use is associated with tobacco smoking by adults.
- The abstract to an article published in Preventative Medicine this past July 2007.
Visual Marketing for Children - Written Marketing Targeting Adults
Misleading, Confusing Marketing Strategies
While the majority of the visual marketing information seems geared to children consumers, the bulk of the written marketing information is geared towards adult consumers.
In particular the written materials are targeting fitness or those wanting the extra 'energy boost' in a more economical and less messy option.
Some of the claims:
The company should take a look at how their packaging can be misinterpreted by children and parents alike and redesign the product to focus on their intended audience--adults and adult locations adult fitness centers, truck stops and other places where adults would frequent.
Source: Power Cell Website.
In particular the written materials are targeting fitness or those wanting the extra 'energy boost' in a more economical and less messy option.
Some of the claims:
- Customers will return time and time again to YOUR Power Pump machine, because that's the only place they can get their daily supply of nutritious, energy-boosting Power Cells!
The Power Cell delivers a powerful burst of 100% natural instant energy, and follows that up with long lasting 100% natural sustainable energy that lasts for hours; all in a chewy, healthy, mouth watering confection that will have your customers coming back over and over again.
Have no can or wrapper to dispose of - they are small, convenient and completely self contained.
Contain NO LIQUID - so busy people will not find themselves constantly running to the rest room. This is very important to people on the road a lot (truck drivers LOVE Power Cells!), poker players, teachers, business executives, and other busy, non-stop people who want the energy - but not the constant pit stops.
The company should take a look at how their packaging can be misinterpreted by children and parents alike and redesign the product to focus on their intended audience--adults and adult locations adult fitness centers, truck stops and other places where adults would frequent.
Source: Power Cell Website.
Spread the Word - Alert Other Parents
Just Say 'No' to Powercells Energy Balls for Our Youth
If you are concerned about this company's marketing strategy to sell caffeine products to children, tweens and teens you can contact these various organizations and urge them to Say 'No' to Powercells Energy Balls as products made available for our children, tweens and teens.
- PTA (Parent Teacher's Association)
- Stores Displaying Products
- Teachers and Schools
- State Legislators
- State Representatives and Senators
- Local Medical Society
- National Medical Associations
- Better Business Bureau
- Center for Science in the Public Interest
Organizations to Contact
Just Say 'No' to Powercell Energy Balls
If you are also concerned about the Power cell Energy Ball, you can contact a variety of sources to keep this product with the caffeine, excess vitamins and muscle enhancing additives away from our children, tweens and teens.
- BBB - Better Business Bureau
- BBB reports provide information on over 2.5 million organizations. It's a good idea to check before you invest or give.
- PTA - Parent Teacher Association
- Home page for the Parent Teacher Association.
- American Academy of Pediatrics Web Site
- Dedicated to the health and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.
- AMA - American Medical Association Home Page
- AMA - Physicians dedicated to the health of America.
- Food and Drug Administration Home Page
- Home Page for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unfortunately, the food and drug administration does not regulate supplements, but they could be regulating the food and the product statements.
- American Dietetic Association
- Home page for the American Dietetic Association.
- United States Senate
- Home page of the Senate to Find and Contact Your State Senators.
- United States House of Representatives
- Home page of the United States House of Representatives to Find and Contact Your State Representatives.
BBB Reliability Report on the Energy Company, Inc.
- BBB Reliability Report on the Energy Company
- BBB Reliability Report on the Energy Company, Inc. Distributors of the PowerCell Energy Machine.
The Energy Company is not a member of the BBB® Serving the Metro Area of Denver/Boulder.
Reader Feedback on the Power Cells Energy Balls
Your place for comments, messages, suggestions, ideas and feedback
What do you think about the Power Cell Energy Balls?
Should Children, Tweens and Teens be encouraged and enticed to consume caffeine and adult dose vitamins disguised as a 'nutritious snack'?
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Comfortdoc
I got word this morning from the County's Public Health Physician (whom I had notified) that the Power Cell Energy Ball display has been removed from our local store! At least that store is safe and the public health department is aware of a new caffeine hazard for children. Posted September 18, 2007 |
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WhitePineLane
As a mom of two tweens, I am appalled at the way this product is marketed! I had not heard of Power Cells Energy Balls until I read your lens, but I've already showed the pictures to both my children and told them that these "snacks" are NOT for kids. Thank you, thank you for sharing this info! Posted September 17, 2007 |
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rms
Thank you for getting the word out about this! Posted September 17, 2007 |
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GypsyPirate
Unbelievable that they would stoop to marketing this product in this manner. I haven't seen one yet, but if I do, I will say something to the store manager for sure. Posted September 17, 2007 |
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Mac33
Excellent lens on an important subject. Thanks for compiling and sharing all of this info! Posted September 17, 2007 |
