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WONKA Brands Dropped From Kids Shows
Move is part of the Better Business
Bureau’s Children's Food and Beverage Advertising
Initiative
John
Eggerton
Broadcasting & Cable
December 4, 2008
Nestle has put the finishing touches on its pledge as
part of the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) Children's
Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, and it
includes not advertising WONKA brand candies in shows
primarily targetted to kids under 12.
Nestle joined 13 other companies back in July (it is now
15 with the addition of Dannon) who, under pressure from
Washington as well as in recognition of the growing
obesity problem, agreed to take steps to limit the
marketing of snack foods to kids and to promote
healthier diets, including making their own foods
healthier, as well as encouraging more exercise.
Nestle becomes the fourth confectioner in that group to
pledge not to advertise to kids under 12. The others are
Mars, Hershey and Cadbury. The coalition also includes
most of the major food companies, including Kraft,
Campbell, Kellogg, General Mills, Unilever and fast food
shops McDonalds and Burger King.
Each company tailors their own pledge, but the
initiatives key baseline is that at least 50% of ads
targeted primarily to kids is for "better-for-you foods
according to established health guidelines or include
healthy lifestyle messaging."
FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate gave a shout-out to
the company. "I applaud Nestlé for this strong
commitment to our children’s health and encourage all
companies to join the [initiative]."
According to Tate, Nestle also said that the ads it does
air in kids shows will be confined to products with
dietary limits, including low-fat milk, powdered drinks
with lower shugar, and frozen deserts at 100 calories or
less.
Per the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising
Initiative guidelines, the company will also restrict
the use of licensed characters, agree not to advertise
in schools, agree not to do any product placement in
media targeted to kids under 12 and limit depictions of
food in online gaming to those that meet nutritional
criteria.
The initiative was launched in July 2007 at a Federal
Trade Commission hearing on food marketing to kids and
childhood obesity, a growing national health problem.
Back in June, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), chairman of the
House Telecommunications Subcommittee, called on the
company to join the then-13 members (Dannon has joined
since then) of the initiative, saying that the absence
of one of the world's biggest food companies from the
U.S. self-regulatory effort "raises the question of
whether voluntary industry action will be sufficient to
address food marketing to children."
Nestle joined in July, in advance of an FTC and BBB
progress report on self-regulatory efforts and in the
wake of Markey's call for action.
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