Food Industry Marketing More Nutritious Products to Kids, FTC Study ...

WASHINGTON ? Kids crave fat and sugar, and an industry that sinks billions of dollars into marketing directed towards children and teenagers is well aware of this fact.

But food and beverage companies, which have been blamed for contributing to America's obesity epidemic, have actually begun to market healthier?products to kids, according to a study released last month by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

"The encouraging news is that we're seeing promising signs that food companies are reformulating their products and marketing more nutritious foods to kids, especially among companies participating in industry self-regulating efforts," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement Dec. 21.

The study found fast foods marketed to children and teenagers were lower in calories, sodium, sugar and saturated fat in 2009 compared to 2006.

Even cereals marketed to kids ages 2 to 11 contained less sugar and slightly more grain, the government agency revealed. Still, plenty of these kids are walking around in the morning with a mouthful of sugar. The FTC found cereals marketed primarily to the latter age group of children contained 2 grams more sugar and half the whole grain of cereals marketed to teenagers or all audiences. And though drinks marketed to children and teens were slightly lower in calories in 2009 than in 2006, the beverages still averaged more than 20 grams of added sugar per serving.

The study also found that food companies are spending less money on marketing to kids and teens. Marketing expenditures for kids ages 2 to 17 fell from $2.1 billion in 2006 to $1.79 billion in 2009, reflecting a 19.5 percent decrease adjusting for inflation, the FTC said. The government agency attributed the decrease largely to reduced spending on television advertisements, although it pointed out that spending on new media, such as online, mobile and viral marketing, rose nearly 50 percent.

Source: http://www.foodproductdesign.com/news/2013/01/food-industry-marketing-more-nutritious-products.aspx

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