A new report focuses on advertising methods, such as through social networks, and urges lawmakers to restrict junk food advertising to kids online
At age 2, Zameen Rashid is well acquainted with Lucky, the leprechaun who lists the marshmallow clovers, moons, and stars in boxes of General Mills' (GIS) Lucky Charms cereal. Maybe too well, says his mother, Fahmida Rashid, who frets that too-frequent exposure to food ads in video games, TV shows, and the Web will foster unhealthy eating habits. "Just as you wouldn't expect to see a tobacco ad on a kids' site or show, there shouldn't be junk food ads there either," says Rashid, a 31-year-old resident of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Consumer and children's advocacy groups share Rashid's concerns. Having successfully lobbied the government to place limits on junk food ads on TV, they now target marketing to kids via the Web. "While there are some rules for TV, there are no rules when you move online," says Patti Miller, vice-president of children's advocacy group Children Now and a member of the Federal Communications Commission's Task Force on Media & Childhood Obesity. "We don't want to reduce junk food advertising to kids [on TV] and then find that it has just moved to another platform."
The worry is that food companies are bombarding kids with ads for non-nutritious foods, fueling the obesity epidemic that, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, has increased the proportion of overweight kids under age 12 fivefold in the last generation and left almost 19% of kids between 6 and 11 overweight.
A new report, commissioned by the Berkeley Media Studies Group, part of the Public Health Institute in Berkeley, Calif., focuses on methods of advertising food to kids that have become particularly popular during the past two years, such as spreading messages through social networks, and urges lawmakers to restrict junk food advertising to kids online. It will be presented to members of Congress and has been shown to officials at the European Union. "With social networking, marketers are getting the kids to create the ads and share them with their friends," says Kathryn Montgomery, an author of the report and an American University communications professor. "It is incredibly sticky and it is viral. Regulators need to understand that."
Consumer and children's advocacy groups share Rashid's concerns. Having successfully lobbied the government to place limits on junk food ads on TV, they now target marketing to kids via the Web. "While there are some rules for TV, there are no rules when you move online," says Patti Miller, vice-president of children's advocacy group Children Now and a member of the Federal Communications Commission's Task Force on Media & Childhood Obesity. "We don't want to reduce junk food advertising to kids [on TV] and then find that it has just moved to another platform."
The worry is that food companies are bombarding kids with ads for non-nutritious foods, fueling the obesity epidemic that, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, has increased the proportion of overweight kids under age 12 fivefold in the last generation and left almost 19% of kids between 6 and 11 overweight.
A new report, commissioned by the Berkeley Media Studies Group, part of the Public Health Institute in Berkeley, Calif., focuses on methods of advertising food to kids that have become particularly popular during the past two years, such as spreading messages through social networks, and urges lawmakers to restrict junk food advertising to kids online. It will be presented to members of Congress and has been shown to officials at the European Union. "With social networking, marketers are getting the kids to create the ads and share them with their friends," says Kathryn Montgomery, an author of the report and an American University communications professor. "It is incredibly sticky and it is viral. Regulators need to understand that."
Marketing to Kids: Expense Estimates Differ
The report's authors recommend that regulators restrict the number of ads for unhealthy snacks on kids' Web sites. Advocates also urge a ban on advertising junk food to kids under 12 and the creation of industrywide standards concerning what constitutes healthier snack food, ideally in line with recommendations for reducing childhood obesity released in 2005 by the U.S. National Academies' Institute of Medicine.
The authors say their recommendations go further than those outlined in a July 29 Federal Trade Commission report that focuses on marketing activities in 2006. That report found that while some food marketers target youth too aggressively, the industry as a whole had made strides to reduce food advertising to children. Of the $1.6 billion spent in 2006 by food and beverage marketers to promote their products to kids and teens, nearly 63% was spent targeting kids over 12, according to the FTC. That's a far cry from the $10 billion some researchers had estimated was spent on marketing to kids between 4 and 12 alone, the commission notes. "The report finds that, although there is room for improvement, the food and beverage industries have made significant progress," the FTC said in a statement.
Montgomery and co-author Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a public interest group focused on Internet policy, say the FTC's estimates of spending on youth advertising are misleading. New online advertising techniques let food marketers reach more kids and teens, for longer periods and for a fraction of the cost than in the past.
The report's authors recommend that regulators restrict the number of ads for unhealthy snacks on kids' Web sites. Advocates also urge a ban on advertising junk food to kids under 12 and the creation of industrywide standards concerning what constitutes healthier snack food, ideally in line with recommendations for reducing childhood obesity released in 2005 by the U.S. National Academies' Institute of Medicine.
The authors say their recommendations go further than those outlined in a July 29 Federal Trade Commission report that focuses on marketing activities in 2006. That report found that while some food marketers target youth too aggressively, the industry as a whole had made strides to reduce food advertising to children. Of the $1.6 billion spent in 2006 by food and beverage marketers to promote their products to kids and teens, nearly 63% was spent targeting kids over 12, according to the FTC. That's a far cry from the $10 billion some researchers had estimated was spent on marketing to kids between 4 and 12 alone, the commission notes. "The report finds that, although there is room for improvement, the food and beverage industries have made significant progress," the FTC said in a statement.
Montgomery and co-author Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a public interest group focused on Internet policy, say the FTC's estimates of spending on youth advertising are misleading. New online advertising techniques let food marketers reach more kids and teens, for longer periods and for a fraction of the cost than in the past.
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