It's no secret that candy has always been marketed at children. Almost all commercials for chocolate bars and candies are wacky, colorful, fun and exciting in order to entice children to buy products. It's also no secret that candy is unhealthy and has contributed to the nationwide childhood obesity epidemic.
This is why the National Confectioners Association has pledged to stop directing advertising campaigns at children. This initiative is part of a partnership between the organization and the Council for Better Business Bureaus.
The new Children's Confection Advertising Initiative (CCAI) will try to undo the damage that has already been done by aiming advertising for candy at children. When seeing ads on television and in schools, children learn that having fun and being happy can come from candy and - because junk food has been shown to be addictive - it forms dangerous, unhealthy habits.
The initiative is being praised across the board. "It's not appropriate to advertise candy to children. Children are susceptible to advertising, and don't need encouragement to like and eat candy, which promotes diabetes, obesity, tooth decay, and other health problems. We applaud the six companies for making this important commitment not to advertise to children under 12 and encourage other candy companies to join this initiative," said Jessica Almy, senior nutrition policy counsel at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The six companies that have signed up are Ferrara, Ghirardelli, Jelly Belly, Just Born Quality Confection, The Promotion in Motion Companies, Inc. and R.M. Palmer Company. These companies produce such well-known candies as Mike and Ike, Jelly Belly and Welch's Fruit Snacks. This initiative is similar to the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which already encompasses 18 major food companies, some of which include confectioners. This new initiative was made to include small and medium-size enterprises.
The pledge made by the six companies says that they won't create advertising that is exclusively directed at children under 12, and that they won't post advertisements in schools with children under 12 (grade 6). This initiative hopes to start paving the way toward healthier children with better relationships with food.
