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The campaign will tell kids that breakfasts can help them stay focused in the morning and build muscles, and new ads will tout the beneficial effects of cereal.

The commercials will air on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network.

But critics are worried that because the pitch includes sugary cereals such as Cocoa Puffs, Trix and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, children will mix up the benefits and healthy cereals with others that are not so nutritious.

Kristen Harrison, professor of speech communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for example, told FoodNavigator-USA recently that the problem with TV advertising is that it intentionally blurs distinctions of what is nutritious.

General Mills however is unrepentant.

"This is exactly what a leader in the food industry should be doing," said Elizabeth Lascoutx, vice president and director of the Children's Advertising Review Unit.

The company, which reported annual worldwide net sales of $12.3 billion last year, also argues that numerous studies demonstrate the importance of breakfast to school performance, thus validating the campaign.

"Those who would criticize the sugar in presweetened cereals need to look at the science," said Susan Crockett, Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition. "Cereal, both presweetened and non-sweetened, makes up less than 5 percent of a child's daily sugar intake. But in return, a bowl of cereal with milk provides a wide variety of important nutrients including calcium, iron, folic acid and B vitamins all for about 120 calories per serving."

The debate over General Mills’ new advertising campaign underlines the growing divergence in opinion over the responsibilities of food advertising and its influence on children. Where once a health claim was viewed as a commonplace marketing device, it is now scrutinized with the intensity once commonly reserved for issues of food safety.