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

Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents
165. 2007 Forum Transcript at 56 (noting Kraft’s Salsa, Sabor y Salud initiative).
166. Id. at 67, 158-163 (describing Healthy BET initiative, a partnership between General Mills and the BET
Foundation).
167. Id. at 68 (describing General Mills’s grant program).
168. 2006 Report at 52.
169. See 2007 Forum Transcript at 8-9, 74-75. Disney’s policy contains an exception for “special occasion
sweets” that allows it, for example, to license characters for use on children’s birthday cakes. Id. at 77.
Disney also has taken steps to improve the health profile of foods it offers in its theme parks, including by
eliminating the use of trans fats and by offering fruits and vegetables, and milk, water, and 100% juice,
as “default” items in its kids’ meals rather than French fries and soft drinks, which remain available upon
request. Disney has stated that “the overwhelming majority” of park guests are selecting the “healthy”
options. Id. at 77-78.
170. See id. at 91-93; see also Dr. Jennifer Kotler, Assistant Vice President of Domestic Research, Sesame
Workshop, Healthy Habits for Life Presentation at the 2007 Forum (July 18, 2007), at 3-5, available at
www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/childobesity/presentations/kotler.pdfl; Press Release, Sesame Workshop,
Del Monte Foods Announces Partnership with Sesame Workshop; What is Red and Blue and Encourages
Children to Eat Their Greens? Sesame Street’s Elmo, Grover and Cookie Monster Join Del Monte Foods to
Promote Healthy Eating Habits Among Children (June 21, 2006), available at www.sesameworkshop.org/
aboutus/inside_press.php?contentId=16467280.
171. See Press Release, Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network to Adopt New Food & Beverage-Related Guidelines
and New Healthy Lifestyle Programming Pledge for Kids (Aug. 17, 2007), available at http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=18509;
Jon Lafayette, Discovery Lends Kids Label to Healthy Foods, TVWeek, Aug.
13, 2007, available at www.tvweek.com/news/2007/08/discovery_lends_kids_label_to.php.
172. These characters have appeared on packages of spinach, baby carrots, frozen edamame, apples, pears, and
clementines. See Press Release, Seapoint Farms, Seapoint Farms Meets Dora the Explorer & SpongeBob
(July 19, 2006), available at www.seapointfarms.com/shownews.asp?newsid=40. At the same time,
however, Nickelodeon continued to license its characters for use on non-better-for-you products, including
SpongeBob on PopTarts, as well as for a promotional tie-in with Burger King in connection with the
SpongePantis Atlantis movie. See, e.g., The Biz: Nick Rethinks Partnerships to Promote SpongeBob to Kids,
Brandweek, Oct. 29, 2007.
173. See Andrew Martin, Nickelodeon to Limit Use of Characters on Junk Food, N.Y. Times, Aug. 16, 2007, at
C3. Special occasions such as Halloween are excepted. Id.
174. See Marc Graser, WB, Safeway Support Healthy Eating; Looney Tunes to Promote Eating Right Kids Line,
Variety, June 3, 2008. Certain ice cream products and birthday cakes are exempt from this commitment.
175. See Seapoint Farms, supra note 172. Similarly, a representative of Sesame Workshop reported at the 2007
Forum that parents say its strategy of licensing characters to promote fruits and vegetables is working. 2007
Forum Transcript at 93.
176. See 2007 Forum Transcript at 94-100; see also Kotler, supra note 170, at 6-13. The research showed that,
on average, children were more likely to indicate that they would eat foods with Sesame Street characters on
them, as compared to foods without characters at all or with unknown characters, and also that children were
more likely to taste more pieces of a nutritious food when a Sesame Street character was associated with the
food. 2007 Forum Transcript at 100.
177. See McD’s ‘Active’ Ingredient: Shrek, Brandweek, Apr. 14, 2008, at S12. The report also indicated that sales
of “Happy Meal” units increased by 16%. A related website encouraged children to engage in physical activities
for which they earned points to redeem online for rewards.
178. See 2007 Forum Transcript at 83.
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