Kraft's two-faced advertising policy

With a growing chorus of advocates calling for curbs on the excessive marketing of junk food to kids, major companies are on the defensive. In January, Kraft Foods promised to scale back junk-food ads to children, a move that earned it much free positive media. But the potential impact of what Kraft promises to do isn't entirely clear. For example, only certain products, including regular Kool-Aid, Oreo cookies, several Post children's cereals, and some varieties of Lunchables, will no longer be advertised to children under age 11. However, according to a press release, "products that the company will continue to advertise in media aimed specifically at the 6 to 11 age group include: Sugar-Free Kool-Aid, reduced-sugar Fruity Pebbles cereal, and Chicken Dunks Lunchables Fun Pack." Why are these products fair game? Kraft claims that they offer "beneficial nutrients or a functional benefit."

Less than two weeks later, Kraft turned right around to join with other major food companies and ad agencies to create a new lobbying group, the Alliance for American Advertising. Together, Kraft and fellow members General Mills and Kellogg comprise the top three advertisers of packaged food to children, with combined annual spending on kids' ads of close to $380 million in the US alone. Other alliance founders include the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Grocery Manufacturers of America, two powerful trade associations in their own right. The alliance's stated purpose is to defend the industry's First Amendment right to advertise to children and to promote self-regulation as an alternative to government restrictions.

Meanwhile, also in January, the Institute of Medicine hosted a workshop on "Marketing Strategies That Foster Healthy Food and Beverage Choices in Children and Youth." Featured speakers included executives from Kraft, PepsiCo, and McDonald's, as well as television and advertising representatives. In its remarks, Kraft was eager to portray itself as doing right by children. Lance Friedmann, Kraft's senior vice president of global health and wellness, promised that Kraft's R&D team was "hard at work creating new products for kids" that meet the company's self-defined healthy criteria. He also stressed the importance of self-regulation, concluding that industry and government should develop "responsible self-regulatory practices for marketing to kids, while permitting companies to compete--vigorously--in the growing market for healthier foods." The institute's congressionally mandated report is due out in September.

Visit www.commercialexploitation.com to sign on to the Campaign for a CommercialFree Childhood's "Statement on the Rights of Children, Families, and Food Marketers," drafted in response to the Alliance for American Advertising.

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