At a time when childhood obesity is on the increase, The Kaiser Family Foundation’s analysis of the nature and scope of online food advertising to children found that more than 85% of the top food brands that target children through TV advertising also use branded websites to market to children online.
The study, called ‘It’s Child’s Play: Advergaming and the Online Marketing of Food to Children’, found that companies are luring children into playing hundreds of free online games that feature popular snack foods, such as and Cheetos Cowtapult, Pop-Tart Slalom and Chips Ahoy Soccer Shootout.
Although the advergames are not as widespread as TV commercials, the study says they involve children’s interaction for longer periods as they can spend an unlimited amount of time interacting with the food brands in more personal and detailed ways.
Without good information about what this new world of advertising really looks like, there can’t be effective oversight or policymaking, whether by the industry or by government, said Vicky Rideout, vice president and director of Kaiser’s Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health.
The study included a detailed analysis of 77 websites, including more than 4,000 unique web pages that received more than 12.2 million visits from children between the age of two and 11 in the second quarter of 2005.
