TimmyHOnline Junk-Food Marketing Under Threat
August 19th 2008 09:03
A leading child advocacy group in the US is championing a campaign against junk food advertising on the Internet.
Having successfully lobbied the American Government to place limits on junk food ads on TV, they now target marketing to kids via the Web. "While there are some rules for TV, there are no rules when you move online," says Patti Miller, vice-president of children's advocacy group Children Now. "We don't want to reduce junk food advertising to kids on TV and then find that it has just moved to another platform."
A new report from Cal Berkeley has revealed that online junk food advertising has been incredibly popular in the past two years, driven by social networking and a lack of guideline control.
"With social networking, marketers are getting the kids to create the ads and share them with their friends," says Kathryn Montgomery, an author of the report and an American University communications professor. "It is incredibly sticky and it is viral. Regulators need to understand that."
Retailers have objected saying that they are more than capable of regulating themselves with guidelines developed by the industry. But researchers maintain that foods with high-sugar content are destroying Y Generation health
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Having successfully lobbied the American Government to place limits on junk food ads on TV, they now target marketing to kids via the Web. "While there are some rules for TV, there are no rules when you move online," says Patti Miller, vice-president of children's advocacy group Children Now. "We don't want to reduce junk food advertising to kids on TV and then find that it has just moved to another platform."
A new report from Cal Berkeley has revealed that online junk food advertising has been incredibly popular in the past two years, driven by social networking and a lack of guideline control.
"With social networking, marketers are getting the kids to create the ads and share them with their friends," says Kathryn Montgomery, an author of the report and an American University communications professor. "It is incredibly sticky and it is viral. Regulators need to understand that."
Retailers have objected saying that they are more than capable of regulating themselves with guidelines developed by the industry. But researchers maintain that foods with high-sugar content are destroying Y Generation health
Really Long Link news_top news index_news %2B analysis
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