Advergames Draw Scrutiny At FTC Food Forum
By: Karlene Lukovitz | MediaPost.com
Food companies’ branded online interactive games came in for criticism during a presentation of new research at the FTC’s Dec. 15 hearing on food marketing and childhood obesity.
Elizabeth Taylor Quilliam, assistant professor in Michigan State University’s advertising, public relations and retailing department, presented the findings of a study focusing on food-and-beverages-branded online games.
Quilliam and her colleagues analyzed 146 “advergames” on the Web sites of major food manufacturers and fast-food and family-oriented restaurants. The foods featured on the sites were defined as “healthy” or “unhealthy” by using “Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools” guidelines laid out by researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
The study included a comparison of the nutritional content of foods featured by companies participating in the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) with foods on non-participants’ advergames.
