Consumer group Which? examined the company websites, packaging,advertising and other promotions of 12 leading food companies, includingCoca Cola, Cadbury and McDonalds, between January and June thisyear.
The report, Food Fables: The second sitting, found that companiesincluding Haribo and Mars/Masterfoods had developed more child-centredcontent on their websites and were linking with sites popular withchildren such as YouTube, Bebo, MySpace and Facebook.
Companies such as Burger King were still giving away free toys with'kids' meals' and others, including Haribo and Kellogg's, were usinglicensed characters on the packaging of unhealthy foods. Kellogg's andKraft were among firms who continued to advertise unhealthy foods duringfamily TV shows such as 'Dancing on Ice' and 'Coronation Street'. Theseprogrammes are not covered by restrictions introduced in January, whichban junk food adverts during programmes aimed at children under 16(News, 10 January).
KFC and Weetabix both won praise from researchers for cutting back on'blatant child marketing' in the UK.
Richard Watts of the Children's Food Campaign said, 'Increasinglycompanies are going behind parents' backs promoting junk food, and itshows the urgent need for stronger protection. The regulations need tobe stricter.'
However, a spokesperson from the trade body the Food and DrinkFederation said, 'The only food fables are those you will read in thissloppy report, which lacks any real substance, is very subjective andpaints a misleading picture of what is actually happening.'
- Further information www.which.co.uk.
