Marketing to Children

1. Marketing to Children

2. Children’s exposure to commercials • watch an average of 3 to 4 hours of TV per day • #1 after-school activity for 6 to 17 year olds • spend 1500 hours in front of the TV annually • 900 hours in the classroom • average child sees > 20,000 commercials each year • American children will have viewed ~360,000 commercials on television before graduating high school • Food and toys are the two most commonly advertised products.

3. Concerns related to children watching commercials • Most children younger than 6 do not understand that the purpose of advertising is to sell a product • Children up to age 8 cannot distinguish advertising from regular television programming • Children who watch 4 or more hours of TV a day are more likely to believe advertising claims than children who watch TV less often • 9 out of 10 food ads on Saturday morning TV are for sugary cereals, candy, salty snacks, fatty fast foods and other junk food.

4. Regulation of commercials aimed at children: FTC regulation • 1970's, FTC proposed a regulation banning advertising of candy and sugared cereals on shows targeted to children under 13 • Calling FTC a "national nanny," Congress in 1980 prohibited the FTC from issuing rule

5. FTC has brought individual actions based on one of two theories: • Ads might deceive children, even though they would not have the same effect on adults • toy ballerina standing alone and twirling • toy vehicle appearing in the ad to operate under its own power • Ads showing children engaged in activities that are potentially hazardous, even though adults might reasonably avoid injury • cooking hot foods • using a blow dryer next to a sink filled with water

6. Industry self-regulation • CARU Guidelines • NAD dispute resolution process

7. 1990 Children's Television Act (CTA) • Enforced by the FCC • Requires broadcast stations to serve the educational and informational needs of children 16 and under • Requires stations to carry at least three hours a week of such programming • FCC Rules adopted under CTA limit commercial time during children's programming to • 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends • 12 minutes per hour on weekdays

8. "Program Length Commercials" • FCC Rule • Entire program is counted as commercial if • program associated with a product; and • commercials for product air during show • Compliance with FCC Rule considered in determining whether to renew license

9. Marketing junk food to children

10. Obesity the major health issue of the day • “tobacco of the 21st century” • 2000--diet and physical inactivity accounted for 400,000 deaths • 16.6% of total • 200--tobacco caused 435,000 deaths • 18.1% of total

11. Smoking rates are dropping • Americans are increasingly overweight • Obesity likely to overtake tobacco as the leading cause of preventable deaths as early as 2005 • March 10, 2004 House passed bill protecting food industry from lawsuits based on weight issues • Key sponsor of bill is from district home to Darden Restaurants • Owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster

12. Food companies spent $15 billion on advertising to children in 2002 • Up from $12.5 billion in 1998 • Advertising used to be limited to Saturday mornings • Now it’s everywhere • television • movies • school

13. Promotional tie-ins and licensing have become significant marketing tools • Rugrats Fruit Snacks • Flintstones Jell-O • Scooby-Doo cheddar crackers/macaroni & cheese • 2003--45% of fruit snacks had licensing agreements • 1996--10%

14. Advertisers use characters from shows to market products on television • SpongeBob SquarePants used to sell Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Popsicles and fruit snacks • SpongeBob SquarePants show--more than half the commercials are about food • “The programs have become advertising for the food, and the food has become advertising for the programs”

16. Some companies deny marketing to children • Coke says it targets teens and adults • 2001--Coke signed tie-in with Harry Potter character • Increase in food marketing parallels increase in children’s weight • Since 1980, number of obese children doubled to 16%

18. Where does the responsibility lie? • Food companies? • Parents?