Food Marketing to Children
Children are valuable customers to food and beverage companies. They influence what their parents buy, spend their own money as they grow older, and may remain loyal to familiar brands for many years.
Federal Trade Commission Reports
At the request of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission collected information from major food and beverage companies about how much they spent marketing to children and teenagers and which marketing methods they used.
In its 2012 follow-up report, the FTC found that 48 food and beverage companies spent approximately $1.79 billion in 2009 marketing their products to young people ages 2 through 17.
Although total spending had declined since 2006, spending on newer forms of marketing—including online, mobile, and viral marketing—had increased by 50 percent. The report showed that marketing was already moving beyond traditional television commercials into the digital world where children spend increasing amounts of time.
Pester Power
Children do not have to purchase a product themselves to be valuable to marketers. They can repeatedly ask a parent to buy it. Marketers sometimes call this influence pester power.
Research provided to the FTC by one food company found that 75 percent of parents surveyed had purchased a food product for the first time because their child asked for it. This helps explain why companies place cartoon characters, movie tie-ins, toys, games, and other child-attracting features on foods and in advertisements.
Why This Matters
Young children may recognize familiar characters and brands without understanding that an advertisement is designed to persuade them. Food marketing can therefore influence not only which product a child requests today, but also the tastes, habits, and brand loyalties that may continue as the child grows.
Links to the FTC Reports
2012 follow-up report
- Read the complete FTC follow-up report
- View the FTC’s official report page
- Read the FTC’s summary of its findings
2008 report to Congress