Posted on 09/02/2010 7:02:41 PM PDT by Qbert
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Federal Trade Commission is once again handing out subpoenas to companies that market food to children and teens.
Three years after initially delivering what is technically known as "orders to file special report" to 44 marketers, the FTC last week began sending subpoenas to 48 companies in order to prepare a follow-up to its 120-page report issued in 2008, "Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities and Self-Regulation."
"This is a follow-up to measure the effects that self-regulation has had over the last three years," said Carol Jennings, spokeswoman for the FTC's Division of Advertising Practices/Bureau of Consumer Protection. "We are supportive of industry voluntary efforts to limit their marketing to kids and this will see whether more is needed."
Ms. Jennings said the findings will be made available to the public.
A handful of marketers that received subpoenas in 2007 were left off the 2010 list, presumably because they have limited their marketing to children. Twelve companies on this year's list are new, but 36 companies are once again receiving subpoenas -- including Yum Brands, which was called out by FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz in a December 2009 speech in which he said, "Many companies that market heavily to children and teens have yet to join or make a commitment. Why, for instance, hasn't Yum Brands, with its KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut chains, stepped up? Or Chuck E. Cheese and IHOP? Or the marketers of Air Heads and Baby Bottle Pops?"
Calls to Yum Brands were not returned. A spokeswoman for CEC Entertainment, parent company of Chuck E. Cheese, said she could not comment without having seen the subpoena.
Some have speculated that the new round of subpoenas was a prelude to Congressional hearings and possible legislation, but Ms. Jennings refuted that.
"We are not proposing any regulation," she said.
Anthony DiResta, an attorney specializing in advertising, marketing and media at Washington firm Manatt Phelps & Phillip, agreed with Ms. Jennings and said he did not see legislation in the future.
"Given the current political climate and the way the polls are suggesting Congress may change after November, I don't see it happening," he said. "In order for Congress to hold hearings or empower the FTC to do anything close to rule-making, that would require a very, very progressive and activist legislative effort. I just don't think right now that's in the winds."
But Mr. DiResta, a former director of the FTC's Southeast Regional Office, did say that marketing food products to children very much remains on the FTC's radar.
"The FTC sees marketing to children as a high priority," he said. "They see children as a vulnerable group that warrants special protection, just as they did the elderly. Given the new technological developments, like iPhones and location-based marketing, they see the emerging technologies can really have an impact on kids."
While some marketers still have questions about where this will lead, the American Association of Advertising Agencies said it is not concerned that any limitations on marketing could mean diminished revenue for ad agencies.
"We share the advertisers' commitment to do right by the children of America," said Dick O'Brien, VP-government relations for the 4A's. "That trumps any short-term economic considerations."
Boskovich Farms, Burger King Holdings, California Giant, Campbell Soup Co., CEC Entertainment, Chiquita Brands International, The Coca-Cola Co., Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Coca-Cola Enterprises, ConAgra Foods, Dairy Management, Danone Foods, Del Monte Fresh Produce, Doctor's Associates, Dole Food Co., Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Dunkin' Brands, General Mills, Grimmway Enterprises, Hansen Natural Corp., The Hershey Co., Hinkle Produce, Hostess Brands, Imagination Farms, Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods, LGS Specialty Sales, Mars, Incorporated, McDonald's Corp., McKee Foods Corp., National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board, Nestlé USA, PepsiCo, Perfetti Van Melle USA, The Procter & Gamble Company, Ralcorp Holdings, Ready Pac Produce, Red Bull North America, Rockstar, Sonic Corporation, Stemilt Growers, Summeripe Worldwide, Sunkist Growers, Sunny Delight Beverages Co., The Topps Co., Unilever United States, Wendy's/Arby's Group, Yum Brands
The most advertising can do is get the consumer to try a product once. Repeat business is not due to advertising, it’s due to consumer satisfaction with the product.
These people are idiots, but that is nothing new to anyone here.
Busybodies with too much time on their hands.
just my humble opine.
I’d like to see myriad schools/universities subpoenaed.....for the LACK of education they gave the parents of these kids.....
If parents were responsible enough in the first place to monitor what their children are seeing on television (or cut out t.v. completely) this wouldn’t be an issue.
Chucky Cheeze’s should start a “Chucky Comes Out.” campaign. That will shut FTC up.
Humble indeed.
How about the parents telling the kids no. That would work too.
Why don’t they subpoena Obozo while they’re at it? Every time he steps out of the WH he’s filmed eating ice cream and munching down burgers (and everybody knows he’s a big smoker). None of that is good for the kids.
“How about the parents telling the kids no. That would work too.”
Exactly!
Advertising has been under attack by the left for decades.
According to the leftist nanny staters, just seeing an ad is enough to make a person drop whatever they’re doing and run out to buy the product being advertised.
The reality, of course, is that people barely notice ads... the most an ad can do is alert a person to a specific brand of a product that they were going to buy anyway. If we were so weak minded that we immediately would run out to buy every product we see advertised, the car companies wouldn’t be in trouble—we’d all be buying cars as quickly as they roll off the assembly line.
I seriously doubt kids are any more susceptible to ads than anyone else.
This is nothing but an attempt to shake down another industry. If only we could get politicians to hold their spending to no more than revenue, they wouldn’t have an excuse to keep shaking down industries for more revenue...
“I seriously doubt kids are any more susceptible to ads than anyone else.”
I dont know about everyone else’s kids but mine used to be very susceptible to ads. We got cable tv for about 3 months one time when my oldest was 5.
It was right before Christmas and they wanted everything they saw on tv. Of course, we just told them no. We didn’t need the government to crack down on the advertisers.
She got it in her head that her Granny was going to buy her this talking doll. The ad for it looked amazing. We looked up reviews of the baby online and it got horrible reviews.
She got a truth in advertising lesson right then and there. We got rid of cable and now they don’t even know what specific products are out there.
That Christmas they got pajamas, hat/gloves/scarf, and Bibles from mom and dad.
“...According to the leftist nanny staters, just seeing an ad is enough to make a person drop whatever they’re doing and run out to buy the product being advertised... If we were so weak minded that we immediately would run out to buy every product we see advertised, the car companies wouldn’t be in trouble—we’d all be buying cars as quickly as they roll off the assembly line...”
Yeah, all good points.
And in a way, I think what you’re saying is also related to the way they view political messaging. I’ve seen many liberals repeatedly claim that Obama isn’t failing because of his policies, but because of his inability (despite his supposed rhetorical skills) to get the right message out there; to properly “advertise” his policies...And if he could do this all those weak-minded Americans would buy it- the same way they supposedly easily fall prey to all TV advertising.
I’ve never been able to figure out though, if the nanny staters view the public they need to control as weak-minded and easily manipulated because they view others with elitist disdain...or if they are projecting their own feelings about the shallow way they think onto others...
LOL
From the huge-looking self-propelled submarine toy ad in the back of the comic book that was smaller than your finger in reality, to forcing Mom to buy that special breakfast cereal for the great toy only to find out the toy was crap and the cereal tasted like sweetened cardboard mixed with henhouse droppings, to rub it in good old Mom make you eat every last stinkin' piece of it, it's all B.S.
Good training for life don't you think?
“Humble indeed”
and?
eat one and get back to me.
not facetious, seriously, buy one and eat it.
my wife used to work at a daycare. my dogs eat better grub.
“...Good training for life don’t you think?”
Certainly agree with that.
It was right before Christmas and they wanted everything they saw on tv. Of course, we just told them no. We didn’t need the government to crack down on the advertisers.
She got it in her head that her Granny was going to buy her this talking doll. The ad for it looked amazing. We looked up reviews of the baby online and it got horrible reviews.
She got a truth in advertising lesson right then and there. We got rid of cable and now they don’t even know what specific products are out there.
That Christmas they got pajamas, hat/gloves/scarf, and Bibles from mom and dad.
If your children's only exposure to commercial TV was for a three month period, I'm not surprised that they were swayed by it, since it was a novelty to them. Most kids, however, are fully desensitized to advertising by the time they hit 5.
The problem for advertisers is that people are so desensitized that it's quite a challenge to figure out how to make the ad for one's product stand out so people see and remember it. And if the ad stands out too much, people remember it--but not the product.
My son was so well trained when he was little that not only did he pay no attention to ads, but he wouldn't even pay attention to items on store shelves. One Christmas, I put him in a shopping cart and walked up and down the aisles of a toy store to see if his face would light up at anything--it didn't. So I bought him something I would have liked at his age.
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