Candy marketing is about to go the way of tobacco marketing, and that’s a very good thing.
Yesterday, six major confection companies joined together in a pledge to stop marketing to kids under the age of 12. Ferrara Candy Company, Just Born Quality Confections, Jelly Belly Candy Company, Ghirardelli, the Promotion in Motion Companies, and R.M. Palmer Company are all taking part in the self-regulatory Children’s Confection Advertising Initiative (CCAI), which will be overseen by the Better Business Bureau and the National Confectioners Association.
The measure stipulates that the companies will stop advertising directly to children under the age of 12, and won’t advertise their candy in schools from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. It’s a pretty big deal, considering the six companies are responsible for some iconic candy lines: Peeps, Lemonheads, Jelly Bellies, Brach’s, Mike and Ikes, and Welch’s Fruit Snacks, among others.
It’s also not the first time it’s been done—CCAI was actually modeled after a similar initiative, titled the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), that American Licorice Company, Ferrero, The Hershey Company, Mars, Mondelez International, and Nestlé already take part in.
Add the two initiatives together, and that’s a whole lot of candy that’s not being marketed toward impressionable young’uns.
Speaking on the initiative in a statement, CBBB’s president and CEO Mary E. Power said, “Better Business Bureau has always felt that smaller companies can be just as much a part of the self-regulatory success story as major corporations. This latest initiative is yet another example of how responsible companies can join together to efficiently regulate themselves.”
The FTC officially applauded the move, with chairwoman Edith Ramirez saying in a statement, “The commitment by six confectionery companies to refrain from advertising in elementary schools and in media targeted at children is a positive step. I also hope that this new partnership with the National Confectioners Association will encourage other smaller candy companies to participate.”
Does this mean that we’ll one day live in a world where tots gleefully go door-to-door to collect fruit and vegetables in their Halloween buckets? Probably not—candy is candy, after all. But the initiative is at least a step in the right direction.
(H/T: Consumerist)
