A new 98-page report is being presented to the Federal Trade Commission this week. In it, several well-known companies are cited as using digital marketing techniques to advertise junk food to children. Many of these techniques, which involve social networking sites, Instant Messaging and text messaging, go undetected by parents.
"'As our research shows, major food and beverage brands are utilizing a variety of new venues - including cell phones, instant messaging, video games, user-generated video and three-dimensional virtual worlds - in their efforts to target children and adolescents and to foster ongoing personal relationships with them, often under the radar of parents...'"
The report calls for the FTC to carefully scrutinize the link between these new marketing methods and childhood obesity. It cites a 23.2% increase in spending on Internet-based advertising in 2006.
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Labels: marketing, media influences, social_networks