food and beverages
Nestle Will Restrict Kids' Advertising For Sweet Beverages, Edible Treats
- by Steve Ellwanger , November 29, 2022
Beginning next July, Nestlé will adopt a new policy prohibiting direct advertising to children below age 16 for its confectionery and ice-cream products as well as water-based beverages containing added sugars.
The ban will cover television and online platforms — including social media and gaming — where greater than 25% of the audience is under 16.
Additionally, Nestlé said it will not collect data on minors, and only partner with social media influencers over the age of 18.
“Nestlé is one of the first food and beverage companies to voluntarily adopt such strict standards,” the company said yesterday when announcing the new policy.
In the United States, Nestlé is one of roughly two dozen companies that refrain from advertising to children under age 13 except for products that comply with the Uniform Nutrition Criteria of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI).
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CFBAI is a division of the self-regulatory organization BBB National Programs.
“This announcement by Nestlé is another great sign of food companies' continuing commitment to responsible marketing to children,” CFBAI vice president Maureen Enright tells Marketing Daily.
The initiative is tied to the Nestlé For Healthier Kids program, which the company says has made more than 80 million children more knowledgeable about good nutrition, balanced diets and healthy lifestyles through such content as this video.
Nestlé says it has reduced added sugars in its products by 5.1% since 2017.
As usual the devil is in the details---like how it works. Sure, you can tell your media planners and buyers not to use any TV shows, channels, etc. as well as social media, games, and other media vehicles, which have a certain portion of their users under the age of 16 and you can refrain entirely from using "kid shows". But that doesn't mean that you will not be reaching teens and children as they consitiute a portion---perhaps a smaller portion than their representation in the population, but still a portion--- of the audience of just about every media vehicle. So like it or not, they will still be exposed to your ad messages to some extent.
Also, what will you say in your ad messages and how will they tell their stories? Will your TV commercials be peopled only by adults---no kids? Will it be made clear that kids shouldn't use the product---not likely? I hope that the folks at Nestle can work things out for the best possible result---but it may not be easy.