Fast-food outlets are sending direct mail to children under the age of 12 as part of sophisticated online marketing campaigns.
They collect contact details when children sign up to online “kids’ clubs” and send special offers, such as free food vouchers on their birthdays.
The Obesity Policy Coalition is concerned about this marketing tactic and is calling on the Australian Federal Government to amend the Privacy Act to outlaw direct mail advertising to children.
”Children’s susceptibility to commercial influence means that use of their personal information for direct marketing unfairly manipulates them, and is likely to harm them in other ways,” they said in a submission to the Senate Finance and Public Administration committee.
Read more: Courier Mail, 5 Dec 2010