The Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB) has announced its approval of Nestlé USA’s advertising pledge as a participant in the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative - which was created to encourage companies to restrict advertising to children. The Children’s Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative was created in 2006 by BBB, with 10 major food and beverage companies, which accounted for more than two-thirds of children’s food and beverage television advertising... ...Read more »

A Senate inquiry has knocked back a Bill proposing a ban on junk food advertising to children. The Australian Food and Grocery Council has welcomed the release of a Senate Inquiry into the ‘Protecting Children from Junk Food Advertising Broadcasting Amendment) Bill 2008′. AFGC CEO Kate Carnell said that the ‘fundamentally flawed’ bill was unnecessary as industry is already set to introduce its own Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative, on 1 January 2009. Ms... ...Read more »

The Advertising Standards Bureau has given the green light to the “myth-busting” Coca-Cola advertisement as well as the NSW Department of Health’s water campaign despite receiving a number of complaints. Advertising Standards Bureau Chief Executive Officer, Ms Fiona Jolly said complaints focussed on the allegedly misleading and false claims made by advertisers in both the soft drink print advertisement from Coca Cola and a NSW Health Department television advertisement promoting... ...Read more »

While the credit crunch has negatively impacted the advertising and marketing budgets of many companies it appears UK supermarkets have viewed the downturn as an opportunity to gain market share and boost sales. Research carried out by Nielsen Media Research for UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph has discovered that most of the market leaders had upped their ad spend this year. In the UK the major supermarkets have come under pressure from discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, who have appealed to those... ...Read more »

Swiss-based Nestlé, the world’s largest food manufacturer, is to cut the sugar content of some of their most popular childrens’ foods. The announcement will officially be made later today with the release of their “Global Marketing to Children Principles” in Switzerland. Among the products to be reformulated is the renowned Milo brand, with the company reporting they will stamp out advertising to children of products which do not meet a set nutritional profile. All products... ...Read more »

Recession “crunches” new product recall to all-time low in the US as consumers seek comfort in familiar brands, though twists on familiar foods were among the most memorable. Advertisers and brand managers have new challenges to face as consumers are less aware of new product launches than ever before. That’s the key finding from the seventh annual Most Memorable New Product Launch Survey (MMNPL) in the US, conducted by Schneider Associates, Mintel International and IRI. When asked... ...Read more »

Australian food and beverage manufacturers have responded to community concerns regarding some food advertising during children programming by developing the Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative. Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) Chief Executive Kate Carnell will today outline the food and beverage industry’s response to community concerns about advertising practices in the AFGC’s submission to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on its revised... ...Read more »

Seafood Experience Australia (SEA), the national marketing body for seafood, made another step forward on Wednesday when it’s Seafood Promotion Act Reference Group (SPARG) and other industry representatives met in Adelaide and progressed discussions into finding a fair and equitable way to share the burden of seafood promotion, both domestically and internationally. The meeting heard from the General Manager of Contracts & Services at DAFF (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry),... ...Read more »

Modern supermarkets and retailers are constantly looking at new ways to utilise every bit of available space to promote and advertise. Retailers often hang signs from the ceiling, glue banners to the floor, add placards to shelves in every aisle and use the trolley as a promotional device. But the freezer door, save from a few carefully placed stickers, has often remained largely unused. The primary problem has always been the potential to reduce the ability of the customer to see the products housed... ...Read more »

Queenslanders have until the end of October to have their say on a proposed junk food ad ban during children’s TV viewing hours.Health Minister Stephen Robertson has called for more community feedback on the already strong response to the Bligh Government’s junk food discussion paper. “So far, more than 1,500 Queenslanders have completed our survey on regulating junk food and drink ads during kids’ TV programming,” he said. “But we want to hear from even more Queenslanders.... ...Read more »