In November 2006, the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) and the National Advertising Review Counsel (NARC) announced the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (Initiative), which is a voluntary self-regulation program that includes 10 of the largest food and beverage companies as charter participants. These charter participants, which account for more than two-thirds of children’s food and beverage expenditures, include: Cadbury Schweppes USA; Campbell Soup Company; The Coca-Cola Company; General Mills, Inc.; The Hershey Company; Kellogg Company; Kraft Foods Inc.; McDonald’s; PepsiCo Inc.; and Unilever.

In an effort to promote healthier dietary choices and healthier lifestyles, the Initiative requires charter participants to commit to certain requirements in advertisements aimed at children under the age of 12. Specifically, they must:

• Devote at least half of their advertising directed at children on television, radio, print and Internet to promoting healthier lifestyles and include messages that encourage good health and nutrition
• Limit products shown in interactive games to healthier dietary choices, or incorporate healthy lifestyle messages into the games
• Not advertise food or beverage products in elementary schools
• Not engage in food and beverage product placement in editorial and entertainment content
• Reduce the use of third-party licensed characters in advertising that does not meet the Initiative’s product or messaging criteria

The charter participants have agreed to submit to the CBBB a commitment that meets the Initiative’s goals within the next six to nine months. Company commitments that identify “better-for-you” dietary choices must be consistent with established scientific or government standards. Thus, these charter companies must consider current guidelines imposed by the FDA and USDA, including what has been defined as a “healthy” food; the standards for using claims such as “low” or “reduced” calories; and standards for “portion control” products, such as 100-calorie packs.

The CBBB has pledged to closely monitor the charter companies to ensure they adhere to their commitments. Further, the CBBB will maintain a publicly accessible Web site that summarizes its findings.

Simultaneous to the announcement of the Initiative, the CBBB and NARC approved significant revisions to the Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children’s Advertising (Guidelines). The revised guidelines expand and strengthen the ability of the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) to take action against marketers making unfair, deceptive or misleading advertisements targeting children under the age of 12.

Specifically, in relation to advertisements for food products, the Guidelines include the following notable provisions.

• The amount of the product should not be excessive or more than what would be reasonable to be consumed by a person in the situation depicted. For example, if the person in the advertisement is consuming food, the quantity of food shown should not exceed the labeled serving size on the Nutrition Facts panel. Where no such serving size is applicable, the quantity of food shown should not exceed a single serving size that would be appropriate for consumption by a person of the age portrayed.
• Advertisements for food products should clearly depict the appropriate role of the food within the framework of the eating occasion depicted. Advertisements representing mealtime should depict the food within a nutritionally balanced meal. Snack foods should clearly be depicted as such and not as substitutes for meals.
• Advertising of food products should encourage responsible use of the product with a view toward the healthy development of the child. For example, advertising of food products should not discourage or disparage healthy lifestyle choices or the consumption of fruits and vegetables.

In addition, the Guidelines specifically address “blurring,” or advertising that obscures the line between editorial content and the advertisement’s message. The Guidelines address this issue by explaining that, in television advertising, the program personalities should not be used to advertise products in or adjacent to a television program primarily directed to children under the age of 12 in which the same character or personality appears. Thus, a company advertising a soda cannot use Barney, the purple dinosaur, to advertise that soda product during or adjacent to the time that the Barney program appears on television.

Finally, the Guidelines include a notable provision aimed toward Web sites directed at children. Specifically, if the Web site integrates an advertisement into the content of the game or activity, then the advertiser should make clear, in a manner that will be easily understood by the intended audience, that it is an advertisement. This provision will likely limit the creativity of advertisers in touting their product in a fun and interactive way.

The Initiative and the revisions to the Guidelines are important developments in the effort to curtail and combat the problem of childhood obesity. In December 2005, the Institute of Medicine released a report explaining that current marketing practices put children’s long-term health at risk. The Initiative and revisions are CBBB and NARC’s response to this report and are a notable first step in attacking unfair marketing practices directed toward children under the age of 12.