Work Off Those Cheetos!

Even so, critics say the emphasis on fitness is an attempt to deflect blame.

"As long as these companies keep marketing junk food to children, anything else they do is pretty much irrelevant because the junk-food marketing is so much more prevalent," said Susan Linn, a Harvard University psychologist and author of "Consuming Kids," a critical look at marketing to children. "Kids would have to exercise day and night to work off the amount of junk food that's being targeted at them," Linn said.

The latest initiatives also reflect a strategic change in corporate giving, said Carol Cone, founder and chairman of Cone Inc., a cause-marketing firm. "Prior to this huge cry about obesity, some of these companies might do a playground or offer an after-school program here or there. But these were not seen as critical to their strategic viability." Today, however, the companies fear greater government oversight, she said. "They don't want to be legislated, so they've voluntarily come up with these programs so when there are finally hearings and they are called to testify, they can say, 'These are the things we're providing as a solution.' "

Such strategic philanthropy is not unique to the food industry. Banks have financial literacy campaigns, drug companies have health and wellness programs, and oil companies have undertaken some environmental initiatives.

Amina J. Dickerson, senior director of global community involvement at Kraft Foods Inc., said, "We will always have some degree of cynicism about what our purposes are, but I would look at our long-standing philosophy to help consumers make more educated choices."

Kraft, which earned $2.67 billion last year, has been steadily boosting its contributions to health and wellness campaigns, Dickerson said, noting that last year, the company spent $1.8 million on them. Kraft will increase that spending to $2.9 million this year and $3.6 million in 2006.

PepsiCo, with earnings of $4.21 billion in 2004, declined to say how much the PepsiCo Foundation spends on health and wellness programs.

PepsiCo's campaign to build playgrounds -- separate from the foundation -- is part of a marketing push to promote its Smart Spot program. A new corporate logo -- a green-and-white check and dot -- is prominently posted on the company's more healthful products, such as orange juice, oatmeal, diet soda and baked chips.

The playground project will cost PepsiCo about $850,000, said Darell Hammond, chief executive of Kaboom, a nonprofit organization that has used corporate sponsors to build more than 900 playgrounds in low-income neighborhoods around the country.

In the past nine months, Hammond said, his group has had a "deluge" of sponsorship offers from consumer packaged-goods companies. "It's been a sea change as more and more are not just interested in talking about doing something but actually being part of the solution, building places for kids to be active, healthy and fit," he said.

Hammond said he is selective about the companies he works with. Kaboom recently turned down a tobacco company, he said. The company that makes Hostess Twinkies also approached Kaboom, he said, but "we said thanks, but no thanks."

In most cases, Kaboom's playgrounds note corporate sponsorship only on small signs. Not so at the latest PepsiCo venture at the preschool in Columbia Heights, where two Smart Spot logos are prominently displayed, one near the slide and the other over the music corner.

The corporate sponsorship was a no-brainer for CentroNia's preschool, which couldn't afford to build a playground on its own, said its executive director, Beatriz "B.B." Otero. It was an easy offer to accept, she said, because the Smart Spot promotes healthful eating and exercise. "Those are the kinds of things we try to promote."

The 4-year-olds, however, seem oblivious to the promotion. Isaac, for example, said he has no idea what the symbol means, although his classmate Diego-Arturo Montiel said it was obvious: It means "school." Most of the kids, said teacher Mariaesther Guzman, look at the check mark and "think it's a happy face; it just means they should come and be happy outside."

That's just fine with PepsiCo. "There's no expectation that kids, much less preschool kids, would recognize Smart Spot," said spokesman Mark Dollins. "Smart Spot is targeted to moms, not kids. We want moms to see us as on their side."