Reporting on the proposed directive, "Newsweek" magazine illustrated its story with a bottle of ketchup captioned "now a vegetable". The proposed directive was criticized by nutritionists and Democratic politicians who staged photo ops where they dined on nutrition-poor meals that conformed to the new lax standards. Compounding this outrage and even though the purchase was privately financed, the same day that the USDA announced the cost-cutting proposal for school lunches, the White House purchased $209,508 worth of new china and place settings with the presidential seal embossed in gold.