No Feast for Food Marketers

The latest government report blasting the industry's ad tactics -- especially those aimed at kids -- is going to be mighty hard to ignore

Kraft (KFT ), Coca Cola (KO ), and PepsiCo (PEP ), watch out. "Current food and beverage marketing practices put kids' long-term health at risk," the National Institute of Medicine (IOM) charged on Dec. 6.

In the most damning government assessment yet from the National Academy of Sciences, health-science and nutritional-policy experts sharply criticized the marketing practices of food and beverage companies and called for a congressional crackdown if the industry fails to mend its ways. At issue: the need to shift advertising away from high-calorie, low-nutrient products and instead promote healthier fare.

DISMISSIVE ATTITUDES. For years, health activists and academics have complained that, on packaging and in TV spots, food marketers rely on popular cartoon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and Shrek to sell food loaded with calories(see BW Online, 10/26/04, "The Food Giants Go on a Diet").

The industry has either ignored or dismissed suggestions for a ban on advertising to young children who can't tell the difference between marketing and wanting to eat what their favorite cartoon characters are hawking, health experts have complained.

This latest report from scientists who shape government policy on biomedical science, health, and medicine provides powerful new ammunition. What makes the report especially hard to ignore is that it was chaired by J. Michael McGinnis, one of the most respected scholars on the subject of disease prevention.

"DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED." McGinnis has served as assistant surgeon general and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Disease Prevention & Health Promotion) in the Carter, Reagan, Bush (senior), and Clinton Administrations. "Coming from a guy who has had so much experience in disease prevention, this report has gravitas," says Marion Nestle, a professor in the Nutrition, Food Studies & Public Health Dept. at New York University.

The push for a government crackdown alarmed the ad industry. "We were deeply disappointed by the IOM's call for congressional action," says Dan Jaffe, executive vice-president of the Association of National Advertisers, the industry's premier trade organization. "This is a radical and unconstitutional proposal that would have an impact far beyond food advertising." Jaffe was particularly alarmed by the IOM's request for Congress to regulate food company advertising to children if all else fails in two years.

The industry, however, hopes it won't come to legislation and has promised to work with the government. "Food and beverage companies are strongly committed to responsible advertising and marketing, especially when it comes to children," says Richard Martin, vice-president for communications at the Grocery Manufacturers' Assn., the trade group that represents food and beverage manufacturers.

TOO LITTLE POLICING? While the call for possible congressional intervention was the most controversial recommendation, most of the IOM's proposals have been in the works for years. For example, it called for the ad industry to revise and expand its self-policing guidelines to include marketing on the Internet and on computer-game software that serves as a venue for ads. The Children's Advertising Review Unit, or CARU, which serves as the industry's self-regulatory arm, would carry out any such expansion.

Yet critics have long complained that CARU doesn't really do much policing. In March, CARU charged that Burger King misled kids with its advertising for a kids meal in ads entitled "Chomp chomp chomp & away," which featured a double cheeseburger entrée.

CARU said the ad was deceptive to children, making it seem that the cheeseburger was the only Kids Meal entrée available at Burger King when other options were available. But CARU then suggested that, in agreeing to change its ads in the future, Burger King was showing its commitment to children.

SIMPLY DISAGREEING. Sometimes, advertisers skirt CARU's guidelines. Four times this year the panel has asked Kraft, America's largest food company, to stop various advertising campaigns on the grounds that they promoted fatty or calorie-laden foods to kids. In all the instances, Kraft agreed to comply, but the ads had run their courses already, critics pointed out.

In one campaign, Kraft simply protested the CARU complaint. "Clearly our disagreement shows that the self-regulation process is working, and, of course, we might not always agree with the outcome," says Mark Berlind, executive vice-president for corporate and government affairs at Kraft.

Berlind says Kraft, along with some other companies, is willing to submit its ads for CARU review before running them, as long as it can revise them to make them acceptable to CARU.

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