No toys for kids! - Dave's Dispatch

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David Farkas

No toys for kids!
June 3, 2008

Building sales and guest counts by promoting your chain to children seems a natural thing to do if budgets permit. But as veteran marketers know, the process is fraught with danger. I recently stumbled upon the website of an aggressive Boston-based "nanny" group that monitors advertising programs, from restaurants to video games. To wit:

Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood is a national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups and concerned parents who counter the harmful effects of marketing to children through action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration. We support the rights of children to grow up – and the rights of parents to raise them – without being undermined by rampant commercialism. CCFC is headquartered at the Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston.

Note the phrase "undermined by rampant commercialism" and you will understand how determined these folks are. The group's website is crowded with so-called examples, inclduing several from restaurant chains. Early this year, for instance, it forced Florida McDonald's to end a giveaway that involved free Happy Meals to kids who scored As and Bs on their report cards. It seems McDonald's sin wasn't printing the report cards at its expense (nice enough) but slipping them into envelopes bearing the visage of Ronald McDonald (going too far?).
More recently, the group lambasted Miami-based Burger King for its "Iron Man" giveaway involving a toy:

Citing the inherent hypocrisy in the upcoming cross-promotions between Burger King and the PG-13 film Iron Man, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is calling on Burger King to pull a planned toy giveaway based on the film. ... Even as childhood obesity and youth violence are significant public health problems, a major fast food company and a major motion picture studio are working together to promote junk food and violence to children.

Posted by David Farkas on June 3, 2008 | Comments (0)

Industries: Marketing, Menu Development