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

Assessment of Food Company Health Initiatives and Recommendations
nutrients such as whole grains, fiber, or lean protein. Food and beverage marketers should be
careful to advertise their “better for you” products in a truthful, non-misleading manner. 108
re c o m m e n d a t I o n s :
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Companies should continue and increase efforts to improve the nutritional profiles
of their products – especially those marketed to children and adolescents – through
product innovation and reformulation.
Companies should improve upon the nutritional criteria adopted for “better for you”
products as they find ways to lower sugar, fat, sodium, etc., without sacrificing taste
and appeal.
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In applicable cases, companies should re-examine whether the fact that a product
has “less” of, or is “reduced” in, calories or certain nutrients (e.g., sodium, sugar,
or fat) is, by itself, a sufficient basis for qualifying as a “better for you” product.
3. Innovative Packaging
Responding to another recommendation from the 2006 Report, a number of companies are
expanding their use of product packaging to help consumers control portion sizes and calories.
For example, several reporting companies have begun offering some of their snack foods in
smaller portions and single servings, such as 90- or 100-calorie packs or single-serve cups of
snack cakes, snack crackers and chips, cookies, and fruit snacks. Beverages are also offered in
new portion options, including “mini-boxes” of juice (just over four ounces) and 100-calorie
cans and pouches of carbonated soft drinks and other beverages. Some of these products are
altogether new, while others are existing products simply repackaged into smaller portions.
Some of these products are described by the food companies as more nutritious or “better
for you,” but many others do not fall into that category. In either case, these smaller-portion
offerings, some of which are marketed to children and/or teens, can help consumers control
portion size and limit caloric intake.
Produce companies, too, are offering new product varieties in smaller, convenient sizes.
One now markets several fresh fruit and vegetable combination products packaged in portion-
correct sizes, while another sells smaller, snack-sized fresh fruit, as well as fruit packaged in
snack-sized portions.
Produce companies are also using packaging to make their nutritious products appealing
to children. They are using popular licensed characters – such as Curious George, SpongeBob
SquarePants, and Sesame Street characters – on packages of frozen vegetables, displays of
fresh fruit, and even stickers on the produce itself. One company now offers a fresh fruit and
vegetable product in a Mickey-Mouse shaped tray.
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