Hungry Jack’s and Chupa Chups ‘shamed’ for using digital media to market junk food to kids
Kellogg’s ad for LCMs: “pester power”
Hungry Jack’s and Chupa Chups have the dubious honour of being ‘digital ninjas’ at targeting children through internet marketing, a collective of worried parents reckons.
The burger and lollipop brands came out on top of the Parents’ Jury’s Fame and Shame Awards today for using digital media to market unhealthy food to kids.
Kellogg’s, which dominated the Fame and Shame awards last year, was again criticised for using traditional media to encourage pester power.
Hungry Jack’s ‘Make it Better’ and Chupa Chups’ ‘Lol-a-Coaster’ apps were joint winners of ‘The Digital Ninja Award’, a new category for digital marketing campaigns targeting kids.
Campaigns manager of the Parents Jury, Corrina Langelaan said: “Children of all ages have access to multiple forms of social and digital media, making them an easy target for the marketers of unhealthy food. It’s a constant challenge, even for the most vigilant of parents, to oversee what their child is accessing online. Something that looks like a free and fun game like ‘Lol-a-Coaster’ in fact contains what many parents will consider insidious forms of branding. Even the reviews describe it as an ‘advertisement based game.’
Langelaan added: “The Hungry Jack’s ‘Makes it Better’ App is a perfect example of a Digital Ninja. With its free junk food offers, this app is simple, effective and appealing. Encouraging a young audience to consume unhealthy food anytime is achieved via a simple shake of their phone.”
After last year’s hat-trick, Kellogg’s was slammed for a campaign for lunchbox snack LCMs, which the Parents’ Jury said was guilty of encouraging children’s to pester their parents to buy the product.
Jury member Kathyrn Taylor said: “The kind of sneaky advertising shown as part of the LCM lunchbox advertisement makes me angry on behalf of so many parents. Not only does it appear as though having an LCM in your lunchbox makes kids more popular amongst their peers, the fact that this child appears to have one every school day suggests it is more than just an occasional treat.”
The Parents’ Jury did however honour Aussie Bananas for its Nature’s Energy Snack campaign.
The Jury said: “In a tough field where all the nominees used clever marketing techniques to promote healthy eating in a fun way, Aussie Bananas’ witty design appealed to older children and their parents, while it’s vibrant approach and catchy jingle resonated with a younger demographic.”
The real “shame” of these awards is the way they are disguised as:
-A legitimate survey/research result
-An accurate representation of parent’s views, without supporting data.
This is the “kind of sneaky” behaviour of which they acuse their targets.
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That Hungry Jack’s ‘Makes it Better’ App is in no way marketing to children. These types of parent organisations would find any bs excuse to “shame” fast food companies. They simply just hate that fast food exists. What a joke.
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Seriously Shaming Chupa Chups? They are tiny delicious Lollipops, that barely have any scalories and a small amount of sugar in them.
And if you don’t want your child going on the iOS store if you fear such, then there is a parental control feature on your Apple Device.
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