Feb 14, 2020
In wake of the health issues related to obesity in children, Unilever is updating its codes for marketing food and beverage to children. This step that will no longer target adverts marketing media to children under the age12 over obesity concerns.
The company said for television and digital or printed media, it will not run ads where children aged under 12 represent over 25% of the audience.
Unilever, owner of Magnum and Twister declared15-point plan to improve responsibility of global marketing activities. The company stated that it’s updating its codes for marketing food and beverage to children. This step that will no longer target adverts marketing media to children under the age12, amid widespread concerns about childhood obesity.
Unilever’s portfolio includes Ben & Jerry’s and Klondike, expressed that the change will apply to all beverage and food products. The company further defined sales and marketing communications like TV, digital presentation on internet, radio publicity, social media and network, digital ads, hoardings, mobile apps, PR materials, online games and other media like product placements. The company said it previously had allowed ads for products that met its “Highest Nutritional Standards,” which take into consideration factors like sodium, saturated fat and sugars.
In a media statement, Unilever said the key reason for the new principles is the fact that the World Health Organization calls childhood obesity one of the most serious public health issues of the 21st century.
“It’s a move designed to help parents, caregivers and kids make informed choices about the food and drinks they buy, and to address the rise of social media, and the vast increase in products on sale,” the statement said.
Unilever said the changes in targeting take into consideration both the content of the advertising and its placement. The company said for television and other measurable media, it will not run ads where children age under 12 represent over 25% of the audience. For the content, it said creative execution marketing communications should not be designed to target kids under 12.
The company added that it will only show kids under 12 in its marketing communications if it’s for products that meet high nutritional standards or if it’s “relevant to the marketing message,” like a family activity, it said. “Parents or gatekeepers will always be portrayed in control of the access to a product,” the company writes in its policy.
It also said it will limit the use of licensed cartoon characters and of “brand-equity” characters to point-of-sale communications (like in-store displays or ice cream freezers) and will only use them with products that meet its “self-imposed Highest Nutritional Criteria.” The company said it previously allowed the use of characters in its marketing communications.
Unilever says it has been applying specific measures for the marketing of food and beverages since 2003 and has adopted those principles since then. The deadline for the new measures is the end of this year.
Other companies have rules around marketing food and beverages to kids. General Mills, for example, says it does not direct any marketing to children under 12 unless it meets “strict nutrition standards.” In the U.S., those standards are the ones established by the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, General Mills says.