$1.6 billion spent marketing drinks to children
A US government report has found that the 44 biggest US food and beverage companies spent NZ$2.16 billion in 2006 marketing their products to children. A third of this was for carbonated drinks, along with fast food restaurant meals and breakfast cereals. Most of the cereal ads were targetted at children under 12 years.
Read more: NZ Herald, 30 July 2008
FTC Report Sheds New Light on Food Marketing to Children and Adolescents
“The Federal Trade Commission today announced the results of a study on food marketing to children and adolescents. The report … finds that 44 major food and beverage marketers spent $1.6 billion to promote their products to children under 12 and adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the United States in 2006.
“The report finds that the landscape of food advertising to youth is dominated by integrated advertising campaigns that combine traditional media, such as television, with previously unmeasured forms of marketing, such as packaging, in-store advertising, sweepstakes, and Internet. These campaigns often involve cross-promotion with a new movie or popular television program.
Analyzing this data, the report calls for all food companies “to adopt and adhere to meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12.”
Read more: Press release, Federal Trade Commission, 29 July 2008
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood comment on the FTC report
“The Federal Trade Commission’s report paints a frightening picture of American childhood immersed in sophisticated, integrated marketing campaigns for food and beverages. The food industry exploits every technology and technique at its disposal to insinuate its brands into the fabric of children’s lives.”
Read more: Press release, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, 29 July 2008
Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation, Federal Trade Commission, 2008
Read the FTC report (PDF)
