Comments on: Food Marketing and Kids – Always A Popular Topic

By: Lisa @ Corporate Babysitter

Lisa @ Corporate Babysitter — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:17:31 +0000

You can find lots of thoughts on this issue over at my blog, Corporate Babysitter. Although I don’t write a lot about food marketing, many of the issues we discuss around marketing to children apply.

Seems to me that the carnival ride for kids probably violates Pepsi’s pledge to not market to kids under 12, don’t you think?

See http://www.pepsico.com/PEP_Citizenship/HealthWellness/Philosophy/CARUPEPPLedge.pdf

By: James Walker

James Walker — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:30:29 +0000

Hey there,

Thanks for posting this. I haven’t been following this issue too much, but I did read a few of the stories you linked above when they first ran.

I don’t know that much progress has been made, and I’m not sure that there will be too much progress in the future.

With the Shrek issue, I think that there is a bit of overracting taking place. No matter who it is, Shrek or any other characters, kids like candy and fast food. They always have and forever will love McDonald’s.

I do, however, think McDonald’s went too far when they began sponsoring report cards.

By: socialbutterfly4change

socialbutterfly4change — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:20:41 +0000

FYI, Jacob Morgan just sent me a shout on Digg about Pepsi having its own carnival ride for kids…the kids in the picture look about 3. Interested in hearing your thoughts! Here’s the link: http://snipurl.com/2jkmj

Does it cross the boundary? What is the boundary?

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:33:09 +0000

I think that the issue of food marketing to children has moved past pointing to the food marketing industry as the bad guy. There is a recognition there are several competing factors. I think that progress has been made in so far as there has been an attempt to involve the food industry in addressing the problem and there has been at least a degree of reciprocation on the industry's part. I think that it continues to be a valid issue. However, I think there is a greater need for education for both children and parents to be knowledgeable enough to resist the power of marketing. One such media literacy program is Media Smart Youth. Media Smart Youth is one of three curricula targeted for chlidren that is recommended by a childhood obesity prevention program targeted for parents. That program is called We Can! I actually think that there is room to introduce an environmental argument for altering marketing of unhealthy foods to children. One could make the argument that junk food packaging adds to litter. I believe that the argument is stronger when you consider the concentration of convenience stores in poor neighborhoods that sell these unhealthy products and the litter you often see in the streets from chips and the like. Greater acceptance of corporate social responsibility will continue to provide a public relations and economic motives for continued industry involvement.