Despite the fast food industry’s conscious effort to ease off running Food Advertising to Children ( ie advertisements for junk food to children), there are still vast amounts of junk food advertising out there aimed at young people. There are of course rules and regulations that have been put into place when it comes to advertising food to children in the USA, Canada and Australia. Many companies have even taken it upon themselves to adhere to a code of conduct when it comes to advertising their products. The fact of the matter is, these rules need to be there to help stop childhood obesity.

One in three children in America is overweight, a harrowing figure that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. The best way to do this? Preventing it before a child’s weight becomes an issue. Food Advertising to Children is an issue that has been with us for years but it is only this year that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) along with other companies grouped together to write a letter to congress about the regulations of food advertising to children, basically putting restrictions on advertisements that promotes foods with too many calories or with too much sugar.

The regulations that the FTC are trying to put in place are not even about completely cutting out junk food advertising to children, but instead placing limitations on them. Despite this, some of the world’s largest food producers have protested these limitations and are creating their own proposals in the hope that these will let them pass the regulations without having the laws set out by the government.

In Australia, an organization has been created to outlaw unhealthy food advertising for children. The Coalition on Food Advertising to Children (CFAC) are an active force in working towards banning junk food advertising to children (specifically on television) so that younger children will not be exposed to the marketing of products that could have a negative impact on their health.

Voluntary Code of Conduction for Food Advertising to Children

Although companies like CFAC exist, and even though companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hershey and Kellogg are participating in a slight injunction in junk food advertising to children, that’s all it is – ‘slight’.  Some companies have managed to escape the rule of not advertising junk food to children by advertising to families instead.

Basically, there is a major flaw when it comes to cutting out advertising for junk food for children. This flaw comes from how shows are categorized. If food advertisements are placed in the breaks during ‘family shows’ they are not regarded as a high a risk as adverts that are shown during commercials breaks for children’s TV shows. Yet the adverts are still being exposed to children with vulnerable minds, and it is the positive portrayal of the food that could have a detrimental effect on children’s health in the future.

Researchers that have looked into the link between obesity and junk food advertising have criticized self-regulated rules that have come from various junk food giants across the globe. The main reason for this criticism is the fact that these regulations do not cover a whole spectrum of media outlets, but just television alone.

It has to be taken into account that advertisers have not restricted their advertising to just television, but their adverts can now reach a wider audience via the internet. It can sometimes be through the offer of a prize, or the chance to play games online that entice children into looking at a product for a prolonged amount of time, and there are certainly no restrictions on that. There are opportunities for young children to vote on their favorite flavors of drinks, cereals and snacks, and yet they don’t see it as advertising, just a chance for them to have their voices heard.

McDonald’s and Burger King both have games on their websites that expose children to their products even more, and while the kids may sit and enjoy those games, they are playing them without being aware that they are being advertised to. Advertised ‘at’ would be a more appropriate way of describing what they do, as these advertisements are being thrust at children and young people, sometimes quite discreetly (i.e. through the promotional online games) and sometimes less subtly.

For example, in Australia young children are being sent free food vouchers for fast food outlets. It is schemes like these that have a large contributing factor to kids’ health, not just in Australia but across the world and predominantly in the United States where childhood obesity is most prevalent. Giveaway toy promotions also are another reason that fast food appeals so much to young children, so it is the responsibility of those who care for them to help.

There are Direct links from Childhood Obesity Levels to Food Advertising to Children

Many junk food and fast food companies that have said that they would remove certain junk food advertising to children from the television and internet have taken a different approach. Instead, these companies are currently changing their products slightly to make sure they have a decent nutritional value and adhere to health guidelines. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s a step in the right direction and if it means that advertised products out there can be decreased in sugar or fat content, it is better than giving children highly sugary snacks.

Thanks to active groups such as the Federal Trade Commission and CFAC along with the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) – a group of 65,000 paediatricians that are against junk food ads – the exposure of young children to junk food advertising is slowly but surely decreasing. Will it have an impact? Only time will tell. It is just important to remember that we don’t need to succumb to the advertising in front of us.

We also don’t need to let our children be so easily led by these commercials either. By creating a healthy, loving environment for your kids, even if they do see adverts that are clearly advertising foods that are high in fat, sugar, calories or all of the above, as parents you can feel the satisfaction of knowing that you feed your children well and that they are leading a healthy lifestyle.

Finally, unlike TV networks and large web portals, Gourmet Ads network as such has always focused on an age demographic of 25 years plus and as such the vast majority of our clients advertising is reflected of this. As such we’re much more likely to run an advertising campaign for a wine client than a junk food ad. There is no doubt that Food Advertising to Children is something that our industry needs to address.

Food Advertising to Children is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Television commercials (or TVC’s as they are referred to in the industry) have been effective for the past 50 years or so in gaining mass reach. However is mass reach always the best method? If you could spend a great deal less in reaching only your target audience, wouldn’t that be a more effective media spend?

Recent upgrades to our ad serving platform have allowed advertisers greater flexibility to deliver TVCs online to your target audience. From a cost perspective online is far greater than online, so for every $ you spend online you get a wider reaching media buy compared to broadcast or cable TV.

The first option is to deliver your TVCs in a typical 300×250 ad unit. The 300×250 is one of the most used sizes on the internet. The TVC advertisement can be setup to run upon load for the first play or purely on an engagement basis. Either way this is a great option for reaching your target audience with video based creative.

The second option is to run your TVCs either pre roll or mid roll. This is where we play your TVCs on video sites within our network. The TVC will either play before or during the main video the viewer is watching. To encourage click throughs, we also serve concurrently a companion ad which along side the video player.

One of the key features about running TVCs online is that you can not only play the video but you can have a call to action, click throughs or lead generation after the video finishes. It means that you control the entire conversation from start to finish, unlike on TV which goes to the next commercial.

Taking your TVC online is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Grocery Buyers are the consumers who purchase Household Cleaning Products

For FMCG and CPG companies who specifically make household cleaning products, targeting the Main Grocery Buyer is essential to ensure supermarket sales, but how do you reach an audience of consumers cost effectively?

All household cleaning products is typically wide reaching branding campaigns which are aimed at gaining brand awareness. So no matter if its “BAM”, “Windex” or “AJAX” the aim is to create awareness of their brand so when you’re in the supermarket aisle you’ll immediately see the brand and buy. Companies like Clorox and Procter & Gamble have done this very well in the last decade.

Generally speaking the main household grocery buyer is the same person in the house that cleans and cooks, so its fair to say there’s a relationship between the food and cleaning, even more so when it comes to dish washing detergents and dish washer powders. So naturally advertising your household cleaning products on foods websites and blogs is advantageous for your brand.

Household cleaning products companies have run branding advertising on TV for generations, hence they coined the phrase “TV Soaps” where they underwrote and advertised on TV programs. But with times changing Household cleaning products companies need to look towards the internet for their next generation of customers, which is why it’s important to develop branding campaigns online.

With food in mind, one of the most relevant channels for household cleaning products companies to advertise and undertake wide reaching branding campaigns is with Gourmet Ads. When advertising in our food vertical we allow your advertisements to appear directly next to recipes and articles on food. This provides extremely strong and ever reminding branding opportunity with main household grocery buyer, especially when most times they are browsing and writing their shopping list, an  important time to reach the consumer. We’ve previously written about getting your brand on the shopping list.

So we’ve talked briefly about dish washing detergents and dish washer powders, but what other household cleaning products would suit being advertised with Gourmet Ads?

Household Cleaning Products which are ideal for Online Advertising include;

• Dish washing detergents
• Dish washer powders
• Oven Cleaners
• Rubber Gloves
• Kitchen Wipes
• Floor Cleaners
• Laundry Powders
• Window cleaners
• Mops & buckets

If you’d like to see your Household Cleaning Products sales jump, then contact Gourmet Ads with your next advertising campaign requirements.

Advertising Household Cleaning Products is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.