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Kids Gobble Up Interactive Junk Food Marketing

Heads-up, parents! Advertisers are voraciously developing new ways to brand kids' brains, while stealthily flying under your radar.

Players as young as 5 are captivated by games built into corporate Web sites, earning points by interacting with products, and bonuses for clicking links to more junk food sites.

Older kids with mobile phones have even greater access to these "sweet" deals. When they buy candy or chips, they get offers for text-based messages, free music downloads, ring tones, and whimsical wallpaper for their phone screens. They’re usually routed to a Web site, where they’re hit with even more junk food advertising. And the messages they get on their phones? Ads, contests, e-cards, fun phrases to forward to friends, and invitations to return to the site for more so-called exclusive freebies.

Junk food marketing is insidious. It’s clever. And it’s working waaaaaaaaaaay too well.

What can you do? For starters, check in with your kids about tactics that undermine good nutrition:

Talk about techniques: Starburst offers "Outbursts" (text messages kids send to friends from the site: "Guess who likes you?" or "Check your fly.") Campbell’s has a viral "Slurp-n-Burp" game on a separate microsite in which kids combine soup ingredients for ultra-gross audio e-blasts that they belch into their buddy’s inbox. So far, it’s been played by over a million kids aged 5 to 15!

Chat with kids about the true purpose behind promotions, downloads, and links. Kids need to know that no matter how clever the gimmick, gizmo, or game, they’re all ads. Make sure they see the ploys: Interactivity -- including polls, clubs, and tell-a-friend programs -- creates a flattering sense of inclusion (Starburst talks about being "part of the pack," and invites kids to have a voice in their survey). Set your own policy about giving out personal information and make sure your kids are aware when key info is being extracted.

Play on your own: Delve into online fantasy worlds where your kids hang out. Many popular video games have ads embedded in them. Seventy million people love the virtual caretaking of the online game Neopets but you’ll be floored by the junk food advertising you’ll find when you leave the game’s homepage and explore deep into its core: You can feed your pet McDonalds, Reese’s, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Trix, and Lucky Charms. Neopets may be immune to Type 2 diabetes, but your child is not.

Unveil covert efforts: Ask your kids to find subtle sponsorships and seamless product placement, including the ones in the games they play and Web sites they visit. Sometimes it’s not even clear what’s being advertised. Frito-Lay took kids on a multimedia scavenger hunt, using cryptic billboards, Web clues, and codes, but never revealed -- until the end -- that the elaborate game promoted Doritos.

It’s a lot to take in. Fast food toy ploys and cartoon packaging now seem like familiar foes compared to interactivity. It’s important to keep educating yourself so that you can educate your kids. There are fun ways to do this: At PBSkids you can create cereal boxes with your kids, learning about the ways colors, cartoon characters, and freebies are used to promote products.

To see some of these marketing techniques in action, here’s a starter list of junk food brands targeting kids (this is from a British site, but you’ll recognize most products). Finally, to get more involved, visit the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Amy Jussel is the Executive Director of Shaping Youth, a new consortium of media and marketing professionals concerned about harmful messages to children.