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: PR Newswire on July 28, 2015
McDonald's will provide free transportation from select restaurant locations to the CSU Super Saturday event: a day for students to learn about attending college. Hoping to create goodwill with multicultural students and their families, the fast food brand will also promote its scholarship program.
Source: Ad Age on July 23, 2015
With sluggish sales, the soup brand turns to marketing. Part of its strategy is a new lineup of Star Wars cans, a product aimed at children. Campbell is also giving itself a health halo by removing MSG from its kid-targeted condensed soups and creating more organic soups for children.
Source: Candy Industry on July 22, 2015
This industry piece is a response to the Center for Science in the Public Interest's open letter to NBCUniversal asking for stronger nutritional standards when using children's characters. The candy industry uses classic defense arguments and says that comparisons of sugar to tobacco are extreme.
Source: MediaPost on July 20, 2015
Understanding that children can strongly influence family dining choices, restaurants are offering digital gaming targeted at kids. For example, Chili's offers tabletop tablets that allows for unlimited gaming at a small cost. Marketers are also using restaurant apps to reach this target and their parents.
Source: Huffington Post on July 20, 2015
Working with Dominican-American singer Leslie Grace, McDonald's has created a three-minute bachata musical, which was first broadcast last Thursday during Premios Juventud on Univision. The fast food brands hopes to appeal to Latino consumers with its "razzle-dazzle."
Source: Ad Age on July 20, 2015
Hershey, Mondelez and Kraft Heinz have come together to create an ad featuring children experiencing their first s'mores. The brands hope to appeal to values through the experience of roasting marshmallows, to extend the s'mores season and generate sales.
Source: Weighty Matters on July 16, 2015
Dr. Jim Sears from the television show The Doctors has been quoted in a Mott's press release approving the diluted fruit juice for kids. Mott's is giving its product a health halo with "pediatrician approved" branding that can confuse consumers into thinking it's a good idea for children to consume the diluted sugary drink.
Source: RadioandMusic.com on July 15, 2015
The Latin superstar and Grammy-nominated Bachata singer has been hired by Dr Pepper to host a private concert for the brand's latest campaign, "Dare to Discover." Through the campaign, the sugary drink company is also using scholarships to create goodwill among Latino youth.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald on July 15, 2015
Coca-Cola South Pacific has agreed to no longer broadcast the ads after the Advertising Standards Bureau found that the soda giant breached its agreement to not directly target children under 12. The ads feature a group of animated characters that mirror high school subcultures and appeal to kids' sense of playfulness. The website remains live, showing the limits of self-regulation.
Source: Adweek on July 14, 2015
In this video spoof produced by the American Heart Association and Funny or Die, the comedian provides a tour of his pizza factory using irony to pressure Congress to reauthorize the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which sets nutrition standards for schools and is set to expire in September. This is a prime example of media advocacy, with some great media bites such as, "French fries are practically salads, which is why I like mine with ranch."
