Child food advertisers slammed
A parent group has criticized the advertisers of Coco Pops and McDonalds in an awards ceremony highlighting the best and worst of children’s food advertising. Parent advocacy group, the Parent Jury, awarded Coco Pops’s advertisers the Smoke and Mirror awards for what they claim was deceptive advertising. Meanwhile McDonalds’ Happy meals ads won the Pester power awards, for what the parents’ claim are unfair marketing tactics that prompt kids to eat bad food through the allure of toys. Therer were some positive accolades though – the Federal Government was awarded the Parent’s Choice Award for its two fruit and five vegetables campaign. Parent Jury is supported financially by the Victorian Cancer Council Diabetes Australia and Research group, the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity. Brenda Templeton is the chair of the Parent’s Jury, which handed out the awards based on results from an online poll of some of its 600 parent members. She outlined to The Wire why Coco Pops and McDonalds came in for such criticism.