Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents - Federal Trade ...

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Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents • • Media and entertainment companies should test the effectiveness of any health and nutrition messages and public education campaigns aimed at the problem of childhood obesity. Media and entertainment companies should consider the feasibility of instituting a self-regulatory initiative to facilitate implementation of the recommendations above. The companies should consider working with the CBBB in this endeavor. C. Measuring the Success of Company Initiatives As discussed above, food and beverage companies, media and entertainment companies, and others have made notable progress on implementing many of the recommendations from the 2006 Report. Going forward, the Commission will continue to monitor future developments in these areas. One important – and challenging – component of assessing the impact of the various initiatives will be measuring their effect on actual consumption of better-for-you and more nutritious foods by children and adolescents. Individual companies may – and likely do – track sales of their various product lines. For example, this Report has discussed some data indicating that sales of certain products bearing “better for you” icons have outpaced sales of non-icon products, and that the use of popular licensed characters on some healthier products has increased sales of those items. 183 This type of information is not always readily or publicly available, however. Therefore, the Commission recommends that food and beverage companies consider how best to measure changes in consumption of more nutritious products that they market to children and teens. 80
V. Conclusion 81 Conclusion The food and beverage companies surveyed for this Report spent more than $1.6 billion marketing their products to children and adolescents in 2006. The companies employed myriad techniques, including traditional measured media, the Internet and other “new” media, as well as product packaging, in-store advertising, and event promotions, to name just a few. Integrated advertising campaigns that combined several of these techniques, often involving cross- promotions, were prevalent. Whether there is a link between food marketing to children and childhood obesity is a question not addressed by this Report. Regardless, the Commission believes the food and entertainment and media industries can take action to market healthier foods and encourage positive changes in children’s diet and health. Indeed, since 2006, many food and beverage companies, media and entertainment companies, and other entities, have taken steps to implement the recommendations from the 2006 Report. The Commission is pleased to recognize these significant efforts, and encourages their continuation and expansion, as set forth in the recommendations in Section IV of this Report. In addition, based on the findings in Sections II and III regarding expenditures and activities in marketing food to children and adolescents, the Commission makes the following additional general recommendations: • • All companies that market food or beverage products to children should adopt and adhere to meaningful nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12. A useful first step would be to join the CBBB Initiative. • • Companies should broadly construe “marketing” to include all forms of advertising and promotional techniques. In cases where a product line contains some product varieties that meet the nutrition-based standard and others that do not, companies should strictly limit all components of a promotion or advertising campaign directed to children under 12 to those varieties that meet the standard. Thus, for example, television or print advertisements promoting a sweepstakes would feature only the “better for you” varieties of the product, and licensed characters would appear only on packages of the “better for you” varieties. Companies should consider limiting branded merchandise intended for children to products or brand lines meeting meaningful nutrition-based standards. The Commission is hopeful that continued efforts by all relevant entities will yield more progress in addressing the issue of childhood obesity. Going forward, the Commission will continue to monitor future developments in this area and, after allowing a reasonable time for
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION Marketing
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Report Contributors Bureau of Consu
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Appendices 2. Athletic and Other Ev
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List of Figures Figure II.1: Report
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Marketing Food to Children and Adol
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