Bruce's Bowl

In what sense are Wheaties the breakfasts of champions? Do sports heroes owe their success to a lifetime diet of the cereal? Or is it merely that the folks at General Mills pay the stars to eat their flaky product for the cameras? Those weighty questions were faced squarely last week by Olympic Decathlon Medalist Bruce Tenner, who does commercials for the cereal and whose picture appears on the box. San Francisco District Attorney Joseph Freitas slapped General Mills with a truth-in-advertising suit, charging that Tenner's Wheaties ads falsely imply a causal connection between his taste in breakfast food and his athletic prowess.

"We question the nutritional claims of a lot of these cereals," said Freitas, whose prosecutor's office handles consumer fraud complaints. "That, coupled with what appears to us to be misleading ads which encourage kids to believe that a product will somehow make them champion athletes, led us to take action." Freitas' suit demanded proof that Tenner really eats the cereal and that he had done so since childhood. "I like Wheaties, and I eat them two or three times a week," retorted an indignant Tenner at a press conference organized by General Mills. "When you're a hero to young kids," he added gravely, "they're going to take what you say seriously."

The next day, Freitas said he might well drop the suit, lamely explaining it had been a "case of overzealousness by a member of my staff." It's tough to go up against a champion--and a Wheaties eater, at that.

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