Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents - Federal Trade ...
Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents - Federal Trade ...
Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents - Federal Trade ...
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<strong>Food</strong> <strong>Marketing</strong> Activities Directed <strong>to</strong> <strong>Children</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Adolescents</strong><br />
Occasionally, food product websites had social networking components, where children<br />
could create personal avatars – computer representations of themselves – <strong>and</strong> interact with a<br />
virtual community. On one c<strong>and</strong>y website, children could create avatars <strong>and</strong> accumulate virtual<br />
currency by playing advergames that they could use <strong>to</strong> purchase digital merch<strong>and</strong>ise, such as<br />
screensavers, instant messenger (IM) icons, <strong>and</strong> clothing for their avatars. On a cereal website,<br />
children could buy clothes <strong>and</strong> furniture for their avatars with virtual currency earned by playing<br />
online games, pick a neighborhood <strong>to</strong> live in, <strong>and</strong> shop for the company’s cereal br<strong>and</strong>s at a<br />
virtual grocery s<strong>to</strong>re. Some websites allowed children <strong>to</strong> take a quiz <strong>to</strong> determine what variety of<br />
food product best suits their personality.<br />
ca s e s t u d y :<br />
In 2006, one milk marketer initiated an online campaign targeted at teens. The<br />
campaign website aims <strong>to</strong> teach teens about the consequences of their beverage<br />
choices using interactive educational content <strong>and</strong> trivia quizzes. On the website,<br />
teens encounter bright colors <strong>and</strong> graphics, scrolling elements, <strong>and</strong> numerous<br />
overlapping, interactive, multi-media components. The website has dynamic content,<br />
with multiple rooms teens can enter <strong>to</strong> find out more information about celebrity milk<br />
mustache endorsers, download free content such as wallpapers, MP3s, <strong>and</strong> IM icons,<br />
<strong>and</strong> enter sweepstakes. Teens can create their own milk mustache advertisements<br />
<strong>and</strong> upload their pho<strong>to</strong>s <strong>to</strong> share with others. Throughout 2006, the marketer also<br />
ran an online auction in which teens collected milk car<strong>to</strong>n bar codes in order <strong>to</strong> bid<br />
for prizes from popular br<strong>and</strong>s. Prizes included subscriptions <strong>to</strong> teen magazines,<br />
sportswear <strong>and</strong> sporting equipment, video games, bicycles, DVD <strong>and</strong> MP3 players,<br />
guitars, jewelry, clothing, mobile phones, <strong>and</strong> televisions. Teens could also sign<br />
up <strong>to</strong> receive email newsletters from the marketer <strong>and</strong> send “tell-a-friend” emails<br />
<strong>to</strong> others. The campaign was promoted via banner ads on third-party websites,<br />
which showed celebrity milk mustache endorsers popular with teens, such as David<br />
Beckham <strong>and</strong> Sasha Cohen. Finally, the milk marketer sponsored a MySpace.com<br />
profile page for the campaign that allowed teens <strong>to</strong> download milk mustache ads as<br />
wallpapers for their computers, displayed a David Beckham video ad, <strong>and</strong> featured a<br />
“make your own milk mustache ad” interactive game.<br />
<strong>Food</strong> companies purchased banner ads, pop-up ads, <strong>and</strong> streaming video ads on third-<br />
party child- <strong>and</strong> teen-directed websites, such as Nick.com, Car<strong>to</strong>onNetwork.com, Disney.com,<br />
SIKIDS.com, <strong>and</strong> MTV.com, <strong>and</strong> social networking sites MySpace.com <strong>and</strong> Xanga.com. These<br />
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