Doctors Skeptical of Food Industry Ad Pledge

Aug. 24, 2007 — -- In July, the Council of Better Business Bureaus announced that 11 food industry companies, including McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Mars, had voluntarily set new rules to eliminate junk food advertising to kids younger than 12.

But critics familiar with these companies' marketing campaigns question the sincerity of that pledge.

"It appears that the food and beverage industry is making minimal changes with one hand, but greatly expanding its marketing to children with the other. It's not fair to families when food companies use technology to market to children out of earshot of parents," said Lori Dorfman, director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group.

According to a May report from the Berkeley Media Studies Group and the Center for Digital Democracy, many companies have found creative ways to use technology to appeal to younger customers. One example cited was Coca-Cola's My Coke Rewards program, which invites customers to use special codes found on Coke products to access a Web site and enter personal information to collect rewards like downloadable ring tones.

According to Kathryn Montgomery, a professor of communications at American University and a consultant on the report, the Coca-Cola program enables marketers to create a profile of each customer, including information about purchasing behavior and responses to advertising messages.

Companies who have made the pledge are aware that kids younger than 12 are reached by some of their junk food advertising campaigns aimed at older audiences.

For example, General Mills, Mars and Kelloggs advertise on Neopets, a social networking site where 26 percent of users are younger than 12, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

In response to such concerns, Coca-Cola and Mars Inc. explain that their pledge is a commitment to eliminate junk food advertising to kids only if the TV program or Web site is specifically designed for kids younger than 12 or has an audience where 50 percent or more of the users belong to that demographic.