Marketing has a profound affect on the foods we eat and the beverages we drink, yet most of that marketing is for products we should avoid. BMSG monitors the media to help keep advocates informed of the tactics food and beverage companies use to target children, communities of color, and other groups that are particularly susceptible to the health harms these products cause. Below are archives of our monitoring.
Source: QSR Magazine on April 21, 2015
A new report released by the digital marketing agency Deep Focus states that Generation Z, 7-17 year-olds, have a lot of power over food choice within their families. The report labels this age group as “the new foodies” and encourages brands to target youth saying, “brands who aren’t targeting them today do need to start paying attention. Companies are also encouraged to target them now because they will be future consumers and building brand loyalty can generate future sales.”
Source: Media Post on April 14, 2015
Movie tie-ins are a classic marketing strategy that food and beverage makers use to appeal to youth, and Subway's latest partnership aligns the brand with one of the most anticipated movies of the summer. Subway's partnership with Avengers: Age of Ultron includes a number of promotions designed to appeal to young customers and their families.
Source: Ad Age on April 10, 2015
Coke plans to expand its popular “Share a Coke” campaign, which specifically targets teens and Millennials using Coke products branded with first names that are common in those age groups. This summer, the expanded campaign will feature more names, package sizes, and formats – and presumably will appeal to even more young consumers.
Source: The Conversation on April 10, 2015
A marketing professor from the University of Oregon succinctly explains complex marketing concepts and how they hijack children's food preferences in this article that pushes for more substantive improvements to children's food environments. The article includes the media bite, "It is difficult to celebrate Burger King's delinquent reform to product offerings directed to children. It is like being self-congratulatory about finally cleaning out the refrigerator as the rest of the house burns."
Source: Food Politics on April 09, 2015
Digital privacy advocates are pursuing a new frontier in digital marketing to kids - junk food advertising on YouTube for kids. Advocates chide YouTube Kids for mixing advertising and programming in a way that deceives young children, featuring branded channels for companies such as McDonald's, and distributing segments that appear to be user-generated without disclosing business relationships.Source: Media Post on April 09, 2015
Snicker is using classic digital marketing strategies (infiltrating social networks and soliciting user-generated content) to connect with youth internationally. The company has recruited popular video bloggers to make videos for their "You're Not You When You're Hungry" campaign - the 13 "vloggers" represent eight countries and have more than 7 million subscribers, many of them young people.
Source: PR Newswire on April 07, 2015
The event brings grocers, restauranteurs, schools, hotels, hospitals and foodservice professionals together with food suppliers and manufacturers to discuss ways in which to appeal to Latino consumers. Food companies want to capitalize on the growing Latino population to increase revenue.
Source: Ad Age on April 06, 2015
Advertising Age is dedicating an issue to multicultural marketing, releasing a series of articles on how to target market to people of color. Piggybacking off news that non-Hispanic whites will be the minority in 2044, Advertising Age is encouraging food, entertainment, and sport companies target this population in order to increase revenue.
Source: Media Post on April 03, 2015
Subway is bringing back its spokesman Jared for a new advertising campaign that’s intended to drive social media engagement with the brand. The advertisements, aired during Final Four coverage, reintroduced Jared to Millennials while reinforcing connections with the brand and emphasizing Subway’s “better-for-you” image.
Source: Media Post on April 01, 2015
Denny's is using popular characters from DreamWorks Animation films as part of an interactive kids' menu designed to engage kids and their parent with puzzles, games, social media outreach and digital content. Note that this industry press writeup takes care to mention that some of the items on this menu are approved by Kids LiveWell, which is an industry program.
