Advertising and Childhood Obesity

The public debate over the role that marketing plays in the current childhood obesity "epidemic" is moving into the store, as the Federal Trade Commission undertakes a broader analysis of current marketing practices targeting kids.Up to this point, the two-year-old debate over the influence marketing has on the dietary habits of U.S. children has concentrated on advertising through the traditional media of TV, radio and print. But FTC chairman Deborah Platt Majoras told the Food & Drug Law Institute in April that the agency is "working on a far more comprehensive study of food industry marketing expenditures and activities" that will include "all of the many other ways that the industry reaches children -- through in-store promotions, events, packaging, the Internet, and product placement in video games, movies and television programs."Several months earlier, in an address to the Association of National Advertisers, Majoras suggested that the analysis of in-store marketing would go so far as to cover not just "promotions on packaging" but "payments for preferential shelf placement." To that end, the FTC this spring issued "compulsory requests" to 44 food, beverage and quick-service restaurant companies that are "marketing and selling the categories of food and beverage products that appear to be advertised to children and adolescents most frequently." According to reports, one of the agency's first steps was to identify common in-store marketing practices, to determine what information should be collected.Under the direction of Congress, the FTC first began investigating the practice of marketing to kids in 2005. That sparked a flurry of activity within the packaged goods industry, as trade associations, marketing consortiums and individual companies responded both by changing their marketing practices and launching healthier versions of their products. The impetus, of course, was to prevent the need for governmental intervention. The FTC currently does not have the power to regulate food and beverage marketing as it does with alcohol and tobacco.In her speech to the Food & Drug Law Institute, Majoras praised the industry's efforts but said that the FTC would "look beyond the promises, pledges and press releases to identify which programs have actually been put into place and are having an impact on children's health."The official study is not expected for at least one year, according to media reports. In the meantime, the FTC and the Department of Health & Human Services will host a special workshop on July 18 to get a progress report from industry representatives on self-policing measures related to media advertising. An estimated 22% of ads viewed by kids are for food and beverages, according to the FTC. (Interestingly, a just-released agency report found that children view far fewer food ads today than they did 30 years ago -- when they presumably were thinner.)At this early stage, no one in the marketing industry is expecting Tony the Tiger to follow Joe Camel into the advertising sunset, banished as a result of government restrictions. But any pressure to limit kid-targeted ads at retail could have a significant impact on standard practices in P-O-P, consumer promotion and, perhaps most significantly, packaging.This past May, for instance, supermarkets and mass merchants were dominated visually by images of the characters Shrek, Spider-Man and Captain Jack Sparrow, thanks to the numerous promotional tie-ins to the summer's biggest theatrical releases (see image). In large part, the products being promoted would not be viewed as healthy choices.On the flip side, children's entertainment companies such as Walt Disney and Nickelodeon have been actively seeking licensing arrangements with marketers of fruits, vegetables and other healthier foods in response to the FTC's concerns, which is why Mickey Mouse and Dora the Explorer are now appearing in produce departments nationally (see image).While children account for only a small portion of direct packaged-goods buying, their ability to influence the purchases of their parents -- the aforementioned "nag factor" -- has long been top of mind among in-store marketers.

Advertising and Childhood Obesity

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