Is Online Marketing Making Kids Obese?

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Early Childhood Branding

Food advertising is a central part of many of the free, ad-supported online services offered to kids. Part of the reason is that advertisers know food, like toys, is an area where kids have both purchasing power and sway over their parents' decisions, says Montgomery. Kids between ages 4 and 12 spent $30 billion in 2002, according to Juliet Schor, a professor of sociology at Boston College and co-author of Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture.

Some marketing practices highlighted by the study include the use of social networks to spur young people to add brands as "friends" and promote them to actual friends in exchange for free stuff. Such practices can turn kids into brand advocates, giving the brand a social status and identity appeal. And that form of marketing is far more influential than a 30-second TV spot, says Montgomery.

Among the companies highlighted for adopting such practices was Burger King (BKC), which developed a page for its mascot "The King" on News Corp.'s (NWS) MySpace social network, a site popular with teenagers and young adults. The King has drawn at least 150,000 friends (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/11/06, "Marketing to Kids Where They Live").

"Sometimes Aren't Even Conscious"

Brands are also implanting their logos where kids spend most of their time, such as in the background of IM conversations, within buddy icons, and items in virtual worlds. Companies are also drawing kids to their heavily branded sites with interactive games, video-editing software, and music competitions. In addition to Neopets, the report cites Kellogg's promotion of its Pop Tarts pastries on Habbo Hotel, an online virtual community aimed at kids and teens. In exchange for answering a poll asking kids 13-and-over to pick the Pop Tart flavor most like them, respondents were entered to receive virtual furniture for their avatars.

The report also highlighted Kraft's use of sponsored IMvironments, Wendy's (WEN) sponsorship of an online music competition, and Masterfoods' use of Viacom's (VIA) teen site "the N" to promote Skittles candy. "It's immersive everywhere," says Montgomery. "These icons and brands are kind of floating around their world, beckoning them in ways that sometimes aren't even conscious."

The beckoning is growing increasingly innovative as well. Kentucky Fried Chicken (YUM) used a high-pitched Mosquito tone, which is supposed to audible only to those with extremely undamaged hearing such as children, in its television ad. It then asked respondents to go to a Web site and identify where they heard the tone in the ad—in essence turning the ad into a game or competition. Through a spokesman, KFC says that the ad was intended to get the attention of young mothers and fathers, not their children. "To enter the sweepstakes associated with the commercial, Web visitors were required to be at least 18 years old," says KFC spokesman Rick Maynard.

The food companies note that the marketing targeting kids is often less aggressive than most marketing targeting adults. There is a law, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, that prevents companies from collecting information on kids in order to target ads more directly to them.

Points for Healthy Foods

Many companies cite additional internal practices they have adopted in order to address concerns about marketing to kids. Kraft says it "reset its approach to youth advertising" several years ago, stopping all advertisements to kids under 6 and advertising only "better-for-you" products in all media to kids ages 6 to 11.

The company also includes logos on Web pages to encourage kids to go offline and do something active, and provides links to kid-friendly government health sites such as mypyramid.gov. Both McDonalds and Kelloggs say they are working on industry self-regulation initiatives. Kelloggs is a member of the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising initiative, which is "reviewing Web site activities," says Jill Saletta, director of communications for Kellogg Company.

And the companies note that their sites often promote healthy foods, too. General Mills' (GIS) popular site Millsberry.com, a virtual town for kids, encourages kids to create a buddy avatar. The avatar eats food it buys from the grocery store. Healthier items, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains give the avatar more health points and a better mood, which helps it perform better in online competitions, says company spokesman Tom Forsythe.

"The notion that your buddy's health is actually tied to these things motivates you to have your buddy healthy and perform well," says Forsythe. "We would not have a game about how many cookies can you eat." General Mills produces whole grain foods and is the largest U.S. producer of branded vegetables, says Forsythe.

The FTC could decide that more brands have to promote veggies and other healthy foods on their sites, regardless of whether they sell them or not. Or it could leave the industry to regulate itself in hopes that brands, wary of angering parents with ultimate control over pocketbooks, will limit ads for less-healthy alternatives. Either way, Montgomery says something has to be done to limit the ads and the intake of high-calorie, low-nutritional value food. "This is such a rising level of concern and the industry knows it too," says Montgomery.

Holahan is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.