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

Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents
Online promotions also commonly involved content on a partner website, such as a media
company’s website for the licensed film or television program. As part of their cross-promotions,
food companies placed banner, skyscraper, and pop-up ads on partner websites, and often the
media company and food company sites hyperlinked to each other’s related content. In some
cases, media partners streamed video ads for the food products on their websites or hosted online
games incorporating the food products. Food companies also paid unrelated third-party websites
to run banner ads for their child- and teen-directed cross-promotions. One QSR offered codes
on its company website that could be used to access additional content on partner websites or
console-based video games tied to the cross-promotion.
pr o m o t I o n v I a a pa r t n e r w e b s I t e:
For a cross-promotion for its television character Danny Phantom, Nick.com
featured sponsored logos and streaming video ads for a children’s frozen meal
product. Banner ads directed children to the “FUN GAMES” on the food product
website, promoted a contest on the food site to win a Danny Phantom video game,
and told children to “look for these meals in your grocer’s frozen food section.” In
addition, the frozen meal product served as a sponsor of Nick.com’s New Game of
the Week, which enabled the food company to display a branded billboard ad while
Nick.com’s online video game loaded and to have banner ads and a product logo
visible during game play.
e. ed i b l e cR o s s-PR o m o T i o n a l iT e m s
There were many examples of food products with “limited edition” line extensions devoted
specifically to the cross-promoted movie, television show, cartoon character, toy, or website.
Such products included candy, canned soups, pastas, breakfast cereals, snack crackers, cookies,
fruit snacks, snack cakes, toaster pastries, cereal bars, yogurt, children’s frozen meals, and frozen
waffles shaped like or co-branded with licensed characters from television shows or motion
pictures popular with children or adolescents. Sometimes, the food itself was imprinted with the
cross-promotion. For example, one snack chip brand was imprinted with trivia questions related
to cross-promotions with films, including The Chronicles of Narnia and Spider-Man 3, and other
media properties.
f. ca s e sT u d i e s
Cross-promotions were widespread in 2006, tying foods and beverages in all of the covered
categories to about 80 movies, television shows, and animated characters that appeal primarily to
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