Brands agree to adhere to greater restrictions on advertising to children

Leading food and (non-alcoholic) beverage companies such as Nestlé, McDonald’s, Ferrero, General Mills, Grupo Bimbo, Kellogg’s, Mars, Mondelez International, PepsiCo and Unilever have agreed on a new policy for responsible advertising to children.

Two of the key changes outlined include expanding the current global policy to cover all media. This will include radio cinema, direct marketing, mobile and SMS marketing, interactive games, DVD/CD-ROM and product placement. The second is to ensure that certain marketing techniques that appeal to children under 12 are only for products meeting the “better-for-you” criteria. The new standards for marketing to children, which come into force by the end of 2016, will constitute the minimum global criteria for all IFBA companies.

StephanLoerke, managing director of the World Federation of Advertisers said:

“The major food and beverage companies have strict controls in place on how they communicate with younger audiences. This latest strengthening of the IFBA global policy demonstrates the extent to which IFBA members are taking their responsibilities seriously when it comes to marketing to children.”

The new criteria will be used to update local “pledge programme” initiatives, which are based on the IFBA global policy but which also bring in local companies in order to extend market coverage.