Is Online Marketing Making Kids Obese?

A new study highlights ways companies use the Web to promote unhealthy foods to youngsters and asks regulators to step in

by Catherine Holahan

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Gabrielle Ayala, 10, takes good care of her virtual pet. She diligently logs online to Neopets.com to feed the cat-like creature ice cream, omelets, smoothies, jellies, and baked goods. For Gabrielle, the Web site is about fun. Some marketers, however, see such online kids communities as an opportunity to associate "fun" with snack foods from the likes of McDonalds (MCD), Kellogg's (K), Kraft Foods (KFT), and others.

For parents trying to promote healthy eating habits, these online sales pitches are making mealtime no picnic, according to a new study. Researchers from the Center for Digital Democracy and American University released a report May 17 detailing how low-nutrient foods are marketed online to kids and teens using everything from avatars in virtual worlds to instant-messaging chat tools, and from Web sweepstakes to interactive games. The report's authors suggest that a rise in such marketing on sites where kids are spending larger chunks of time is contributing to childhood obesity and diet-related health problems by encouraging kids to make poor food choices.

Getting Inside Marketers' Strategies

The report findings were submitted to the Federal Trade Commission in hopes that the regulatory group will develop online marketing rules to rein in food messages targeting kids and young teenagers. The FTC is currently conducting a survey of food marketing to children, across a variety of media. As part of the regulator's study, it is demanding that 44 food-and-beverage manufacturers, distributors, and marketers disclose how they advertise to children.

Report author Kathryn Montgomery, a communications professor at American University, says that online food marketing has "stacked the deck" against parents when it comes to getting children and teens to avoid high-sugar, high-fat foods. "I think we have really set parents up here," says Montgomery. "We shouldn't be having debates with our kids in the aisles of grocery stores and every parent I know has had to do that."

Saundra Ayala, mother of Gabrielle and two other young children, knows just how difficult it is to fight the brand appeal of fast food and sugary snacks. Thanks to advertisements, her kids and many of their friends see McDonalds as a fantastic place. They know the jingle. They know about the toys in the kids' meals. So, it's not easy trying to explain why she won't let the family eat there more than once a month. "I think it would be easier as parents to have your kids eat healthy if you weren't bombarded with ads," says Ayala.