• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 8, 2007

TV marketers wouldn't advertise sex-themed or violence-laden products to kids under 12 years old. But up until recently, bad or fat-inducing food was always on the table.

Now kids' product companies are under the gun. Confectionary makers, of course, have it the worst. There really aren't any healthy claims for gooey candy bars.

In the U.K., word leaked out that Masterfoods has decided not to market its core products, Mars and Snickers, to children under 12. Masterfoods said this is just part of the process "to give our customers a choice, and part of our desire for self-regulation." In 2006, it raised its minimum marketing age for products from six to nine years old. Now it has moved that age up another three years.

In the future, it seems like these foods will end up on the same marketing road as smoking and alcohol -- only to be chosen by adults who know better and usually act worse.

But this doesn't stop the madness coming from some parents. It still amazes me that you can go into a Starbucks at 4 p.m. and see parents buying 3-year-olds their own venti Frappuccinos. For those with tunnel vision only on their Intel dual core laptops and Wi-Fi connections, that's a mix of caffeine AND sugar. Good luck getting that young lad or lady to sleep.

It's all a reversal of fortune. With kids' TV, network executives seem to be carefully towing the proper line in programming content as well as for ads -- especially for programs targeting younger kids.

With adult programming, it's the other way around: Looking at dismembered body parts on "CSI," "House", or "Crossing Jordan" is pretty common, while adult TV advertising goes through a tamer route.

The question now becomes what TV shows -- adult shows -- remain for the company's candy bars (just like what public places are okay for smoking).

MTV Networks has always been a place confectionary makers went to market their products. No doubt "The O.C." worked well too. The thinking was that high school-age teens and college-age young adults might pick up a nutritional book or two that tells them to put down the Snickers --- even if they snicker.

Better still, Masterfoods can leave Snickers marketing to targeting adults --commercials where, for example, auto mechanics might accidentally kiss. (Oh, that didn't work too well, either.)

For kids, parents have the controls -- sort of. They already make tough prime-time procedural crime drama choices: a severed hand on "NCIS" or a hacked femur on "House." With these deft decisions over stressful scenes, parents can easily endure real-life screaming children demanding Reese's Pieces.