Title: Breakfast Cereal Manufacturers Promote Unhealthy Products to Children, Use Sophisticated Digital Marketing Techniques

Author: Andrew Cheyne, Berkeley Media Studies Group, cheyne@bmsg.org

Section/SPIG: Food and Nutrition

Issue Date:

Breakfast cereals are a ubiquitous part of American children’s diets. Ready-to-eat cereals are found in more than 90 percent of all U.S. households, and on average children and adolescents consume cereal 3.8 times/week (USDA). According to the Federal Trade Commission (2008), in 2006 breakfast cereal manufacturers spent $229 million targeting children aged 2-11, making them the largest packaged food marketer to children. To see how cereal marketers are using the latest digital media, we decided to analyze the content of child-targeted cereal websites.

We found that cereal manufacturers maintain 17 child-targeted sites, totaling 452 pages. Sixty-four percent of the brands promoted products that failed the IOM’s 2007 standards for “competitive” foods sold in schools (foods sold outside of school meal programs).

Sugary cereal websites targeting children are saturated in branding that is amplified by sophisticated digital marketing techniques. For instance, we found 165 games, 67 percent of which were advergames, meaning that the games wove messages about the branded product into the gaming experience (Figure 1). Two of the most popular sites constituted “virtual worlds,” immersing children in an elaborate experience for which they create a customized avatar (digital likeness) and then navigate a series of neighborhoods in a virtual city. Children are asked to register and divulge their personal information in order to fully participate in eight of the 17 sites, but only one required parental notification.

These sites are of significant public health concern because they are engaging children for lengthy periods of time. Internet traffic data show that the most successful sites, Millsberry.com and Postopia.com, reached children 2-11 years old for 27 minutes, on average. It is settled science that children are vulnerable to advertising because they lack the cognitive capacity to differentiate persuasive intent. However, because this research is grounded in children’s passive reception of 30-second TV commercials, it is likely that the immersive, participatory digital environments offered by cereal brands are deeply affecting children’s awareness, preferences, and consumption of unhealthy foods. The Yale Rudd Center on Food Policy and Obesity and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported this research.