Media Releases

“Marketing is just washing over this country like a tidal wave, and we’re trying to give people swimming lessons.”

—Kelly D. Brownell, UConn Rudd Center

Coalition praises new bill to stop food and beverage marketing to kids

Bill C-252 undergoing second reading debate

Ottawa, ON – May 6, 2022 – The Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition commends Patricia Lattanzio, Member of Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, as she moves Bill C-252 to second reading today in the House of Commons. Private Member’s Bill C-252 aims to prohibit the marketing of food and beverages high in sugar, saturated fats or sodium to children under 13 years of age. Read more…

Sugary Drinks : Over-consumed, unnecessary and harmful

June 7, 2021 – Coalition Poids, The Childhood Obesity Foundation and Heart & Stroke call on all levels of government to follow the lead of Newfoundland and Labrador and introduce a sugary drinks levy that can be reinvested in prevention as a promising strategy to bring greater health and economic benefits. Read more…

Pediatricians urge Senate to pass children’s health bill: Bill S-228 will die if not passed by end of session

June 17, 2019 – The Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition is calling attention to a communication to Senators in The Hill Times urging the Senate to pass Bill S-228 before the end of the current parliamentary session. Known as the Child Health Protection Act, the bill would restrict the marketing of foods and beverages high in sugar, salt and saturated fat to children 12 and under. The communication, an urgent plea to senators, was placed by the Canadian Paediatric Society (which is an endorsing organization of the Coalition) and the Pediatric Chairs of Canada. Read more…

Canadians served opportunity to have their say about healthy eating

July 30, 2017 -Heart & Stroke welcomes the recent announcement by Health Canada to launch two public consultations as part of its Healthy Eating Strategy. These consultations will allow Canadians to have input around two public policy areas that can significantly support them to be able to make healthy food choices for themselves and their families. Read more…

16 and Under Campaign

May 23, 2017 – To rally support for federal legislation intended to restrict food and beverage marketing to all children in Canada, Heart & Stroke’s next step in its fight against marketing to kids uses a new (and entirely fictional) advertising agency called “16 and Under” that exclusively creates ads targeting kids. Read more…

The food and beverage industry is marketing our children and youth to death

February 1, 2017 – New research reveals advertising restrictions urgently needed to protect kids and support parents. Read more…

Celebrity Chef and Health Experts Stir Up Excitement Around Childhood Obesity

October 7, 2016 – Jamie Oliver and Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition identify areas for immediate action. Read more…

Health coalition gives proposed legislation to protect children a gold star

September 28, 2016 – The Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition applauds Senator Nancy Greene Raine for introducing legislation prohibiting food and beverage marketing to children. Read more…

Heart and Stroke Foundation applauds Senate committee recommendations

March 1, 2016 – The Heart and Stroke Foundation praises the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology for its comprehensive report on obesity and important nutrition policy recommendations that will have a real impact on the health of Canadians. Read more…

Health organizations tell food industry: pick on someone your own age

February 24, 2016 – Co-led by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Childhood Obesity Foundation, the Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition says the time has come to protect children and to support parents to make healthy decisions for their families. Read more…

85% of Canadian parents want government to place limits on advertising unhealthy foods and beverages to children

May 9, 2013 – Approximately 20 health organizations have joined together in light of Canada Health Day 2013 to support of a policy statement calling for a restriction on marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children. Read more…

Other Stop M2K News

Your Kid’s Apps Are Crammed With Ads

New York Times

A new study by Dr. Jenny Radesky, assistant professor of developmental behavioral pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School, found advertising present in almost all of the most downloaded apps for children ages five and younger, many of which appear to violate the F.T.C. rules regarding unfair and deceptive advertising.
“In apps marketed for children 5 and under in the Google Play store, there were pop-up ads with disturbing imagery. There were ads that no child could reasonably be expected to close out of, and which, when triggered, would send a player into more ads. Dancing treasure chests would give young players points for watching video ads, potentially endlessly. The vast majority of ads were not marked at all. Characters in children’s games gently pressured the kids to make purchases, a practice known as host-selling, banned in children’s TV programs in 1974 by the Federal Trade Commission. At other times an onscreen character would cry if the child did not buy something.”
“To accompany the publication of the study, called “Advertising in Young Children’s Apps: A Content Analysis”, more than a dozen media and children’s health advocacy organizations sent the F.T.C. a letter asking for an investigation.” They argue that the advertising tactics described in the study “violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which bans unfair and deceptive business practices.”
“The tide has turned… You can feel it. A few years ago to suggest limiting tech for kids would have sounded alarmist, and now that’s changing. It’s unfair to children and deceptive the way the ads are structured into the play” – Dr. Montgomery, a professor of Communications at American University)
“The hardest argument to make when you live in the U.S. is that children’s rights should be higher than the rights of advertisers”
Many of the apps looked at in the study were free apps.
The authors argue that the “bombardment of advertising undercuts most of the educational content an app may include.”
Dr. Jenny Radesky, the study’s author, “hopes the study will lead parents to ask more questions about the games their kids are playing. And she hopes it leads to regulation, though she suspects that will be a harder battle.”

Read full New York Times article here: Your Kid’s Apps Are Crammed With Ads

Canadian kids see thousands of ads for unhealthy food on social media: study

CTV

“Nearly three-quarters of Canadian children are exposed to food marketing while using popular social media apps, a new study from the University of Ottawa found.”
The study found that children see almost 6,000 ads per year on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube), the majority of which promote “ultra-processed foods and beverages high in fat, salt or sugar…”. The study found that “85 percent of the food and beverage products advertised were categorized as ultra-processed, while 97 per cent were products deemed high in fat, sodium, or sugar.”
“Sometimes kids are actually sending food and beverage ads to other children” (Dr. Potvin Kent – video).
“With digital food and beverage marketing parents are not aware because you’re not sitting beside your child all the time… when kids are watching TV you do tend to be more aware but it’s really important that parents know what their child’s exposure is on social media. Technically children aren’t supposed to be on social media, you’re supposed to be 12 or 13 before you can even have an account but many kids as young as 7 have accounts…” (Dr. Potvin Kent – video)
“This level of exposure may greatly influence children’s perception of a normal diet, as well as their food preferences and the foods they actually consume” (Dr. Monique Potvin Kent)
“Despite the extensive body of evidence that shows food marketing shapes children’s dietary behaviours, Canada currently lacks formal regulations marketing junk food to children outside of a traditional broadcast environment.” Rather, 18 large companies, including Coca Cola, Kraft, and McDonalds, created the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising initiative which committed to advertising “healthier” products to children under 12. Bill S-228 “seeks to amend the Food and Drug Act to restrict marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children”.

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Not your grandmother’s commercials: ‘Kidvertising’ in the digital age

Ottawa Citizen

“A new study by University of Ottawa researchers [lead by Dr. Monique Potvin Kent] found that 72 per cent of children and youth were exposed to food marketing through social media in a single 10-minute window.” The research suggests that “young social media users are exposed to more than 12 food and beverage snacks every hour [and about] 90 per cent of the products promoted in these ads are unhealthy.”
“These are not your grandmother’s commercials. Food and beverage manufacturers have neuropsychologists working with them. They use MRIs. It’s hard to defend yourself against ads.” (Dr. Potvin Kent)
“We have seen a huge proliferation of ads online. Entertainment is blended with marketing. It’s hard for children to understand that they’re being marketed to” (Dr. Potvin Kent)
· While studies have shown that children have brand awareness by age two, they start to recognize something as an ad by age six and do not begin to think critically about what they view until age 11 or 12.
Children also use social media to follow their favourite products and encourage their friends to do so as well and are therefore “…doing the work of a marketing firm…” (Dr. Potvin Kent).
“Children 11, 12 and 13 years old are doing the work of a marketing firm when they’re forwarding things to their friends,” said Dr. Potvin Kent.
If Bill S-228 becomes law, “Health Canada would be responsible for creating the regulations around it. ‘There is no silver bullet, but this will help,’ said [Nancy Greene] Raine”.
Nancy Greene Raine stated: “The advertisers know it works. If you create a customer by the age of 10, you have a dedicated customer for life.”

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