Kraft Foods, Kellogg and Dairy Crest are among the food manufacturers cited in a series of complaints made by campaigners in the UK to the country’s advertising watchdog over online marketing.
The Children’s Food Campaign (CFC) said it had filed 54 “super-complaints” to the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over the way food makers market their food online.
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It has sent the ASA a list of 54 websites that it believes are targeting children with “cynical junk food marketing” tactics. Products on the list include Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Dairy Crest’s Frijj, Kraft’s Wispa, and Coca-Cola.
Campaigners argue the websites promote products which are classified as “high in sugars or fat or salt”.
“This marketing encourages poor nutritional habits by presenting junk foods in a positive light which influences children’s food preferences and choices,” the CFC said last week.
All of the brands on the list appear in the CFC’s 2011 report The 21st Century Gingerbread House, published in December. The report, in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation, highlighted “the unabashed use” of brand characters, animations, games, competitions, promotions, videos and social networking sites, used to target children.
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By GlobalDataThe Children’s Food Campaign said it is now calling for “consistent advertising regulations across all forms of media to protect children and their future health”.
“The pervasive nature of online junk food marketing to children really leaves us with no choice but to submit this ‘super-complaint’,” Kawther Hashem of the Children’s Food Campaign said. “It is time for the ASA to face the music: will it or will it not act to protect children from cynical junk food marketing practices?”
A spokesperson for the ASA confirmed to just-food that it had received the information from the CFC and, as with all complaints, “will take them very seriously”.
“We will investigate these to see whether there are grounds for action,” the spokesperson said. “We are currently assessing the complaints and expect to make a decision in a week or two.”
UK food manufacturing association The Food & Drink Federation declined to comment on the complaints, saying it was more of a “brand issue than an industry issue”. A spokesperson added that the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers tended to represent business on these matters. ISBA could not be reached for immediate comment.
