Thursday, November 16, 2006

Kid Ads Trim the Fat

No more "Sugar Frosted Fried Lard-O's" cereal commercials during the morning cartoons. The Better Business Bureau has coaxed 10 food companies including Coca-Cola, General Mills, Hershey, Kellogg, Kraft, McDonald's, and PepsiCo into running 50 percent "healthy eating" ads during TV shows aimed at children. According to BrandWeek, the initiative "is designed to shift the focus of advertising messages to children and encourage healthier dietary choices and healthy lifestyles." Government regulations (or the threat thereof) will likely continue to pressure companies to reduce ads that contribute to the pandemic of obesity that starts with the young. It only makes sense that some guidelines be in place when marketing to kids too young to comprehend the dangers of unhealthy consumption. Parents have the responsibility to control what their kids eat, but reducing the amount of sugary sales pitches will make it less of a battle between children and their parents when it comes to setting the menu.

By John Gartner at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

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