Nestle and Kraft fall foul of ASB rules on advertising to kids
The Advertising Standards Board has upheld a complaint against Nestle over its Smarties eight colours project after the ad was shown during children’s films rather than only in programming aimed at parents. It has also upheld a similar complaint against Kraft for its Oreo product.
The finding is doubly embarrassing for Nestle because the company is a signatory to the Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative of the Australia Food and Beverage Industry, and the company’s marketing chief Ian Alwill chairs the ASB.
The company has made much of its responsible marketing credentials, issuing a press release two years ago saying it was the “first to take action”. Nestle said today that the ad’s placement had been a “violation” of its own code of advertising”.
In a ruling published this morning, the company’s Smarties campaign was found to have broken the ASB’s rules after it was shown during children’s films including Robots and The Shaggy Dog.
Under the responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative, Australia’s major FMCGs agreed that products that were not healthy eating choices for children would not be aired on programming aimed primarily at kids.
The Smarties campaign, created by JWT, launched in August.
A complaint to the ASB from the Victoria-based Obesity Policy Coalition said: “We believe the advertisement breaches the RCMI because it is directed primarily to children and because Smarties do not represent a healthy dietary choice consistent with established scientific or Australian government standards. It is clear that the ad is directed primarily to children. The theme of the ad is children having fun while helping to create artworks inspired by their favourite Smartie colours.”
Nestle responded: “Nestle directed its media agency that the target audience for the Advertisement was to be Main Grocery Buyers (MGB’s) with children aged between 5 and 12 years. The Advertisement has been shown during day-time talk shows and adult day-time programming generally as well as during programs shown at or later than 7:30pm whose primary audience was the target audience.”
Nestle’s media agency is Zenith Optimedia.
Nestle added: “The Advertisement is part of a campaign aimed at providing mums/primary adult caregivers with ideas for artistic/craft activities to undertake with their children inspired by ‘The 8 colours of Smarties’.”
But the ASB ruled:
“The Board was of the view that most of the programming in which the advertisement appeared is not directed primarily to children – although some children may well view the programmes. However the Board considered that a number of movies in which the advertisement appeared are in fact directed primarily to children. Movies in this category included Robots and The Shaggy Dog.
“On the basis that the product advertised does not represent a healthy dietary choice and that the advertisement for that product did appear in programming which was directed primarily to children, the Board determined that the advertisement breached the first core principal of the AFGC RCMI and upheld the complaint.”
It is believed to be the first time that Nestle has had the ASB rule against it. The company said in a statement:
“The advertisement in question was screened in a children’s movie unbeknownst to us and in violation of our own code of advertising to children. It was never our intention to show this ad in a program directed primarily at children. This was entirely inadvertent and unplanned, and we apologise.
“In this instance the ad was booked in a timeslot which typically did not screen movies aimed primarily at children and the media buying agency placed the ad with the expectation that this would maintain.
“Having been made aware of this, we are now putting processes in place to ensure that no other Nestlé products that do not represent healthy dietary choices appear inadvertently during children’s programming.”
Meanwhile, the ASB has also upheld a similar complaint against Kraft for its Oreos biscuits after an ad ran in a series of children’s TV shows.
Kraft admitted the breach, saying: “The Oreo ‘School Yard’ TVC paid media buying schedule complies with these Codes, however upon investigation of the complaint, we have identified that some bonus advertising slots for the Oreo ‘School Yard’ TVC have inadvertently occurred during some children’s viewing times.” Kraft’s media is bought by Mindshare.
According to the ASB these “inadvertent” appearances included Dora the Explorer, Shrek the Third, Time Tracker, Pyramid, Go Go Stop, Go Diego! Go!, Ben 10 Alien Force, Dennis and Gnasher, Lockie Leonard, Stormworld, The Sleepover Club, Bee Movie and Backyard Science.
The person who answered the phone at Kraft’s corporate communications department said that everyone was in a meeting all day and to expect a call back later in the week.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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