Marketing to Children: Analysing the Federal Trade Commission’s Landmark Food Marketing Study

On the 29th July the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a report documenting the results of its study into food marketing to children and adolescents. The report, Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities and Self-Regulation, found that 44 major food and beverage marketers spent a combined total of $1.6 billion on promoting their products to children and adolescents. The report subsequently describes how the landscape of food and beverage marketing to younger audiences is dominated by integrated advertising campaigns- campaigns that combine traditional media, such as television, with new approaches, such as the internet and in-store marketing. These new methods are often accompanied by a cross-promotion such as a film or a popular television programme.

The findings of the report are accompanied by a set of recommendations calling for food companies “to adopt and adhere to meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12.” The Chairman of the FTC William E. Kovacic said that whilst the study has made a ground-breaking contribution to understanding how the food and media industries are using promotional tools to market food to youth, its findings should also be used as a launch pad encouraging the industries to promote healthier choices for children and adolescents.

Michele Simon, from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), prepared an insightful analysis of the report’s finding for the American blog The Daily Kos.

For more information

Michele Simon’s report