WASHINGTON—The Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) announced revisions to its "core principles" that will take effect Jan. 1. Elaine Kolish, BBB vice president and CFBAI director, made the announcement during the FTC's Dec. 15 forum on food marketing and childhood obesity.
The Enhanced Core Principles now require participants to commit that 100-percent of their advertising primarily directed to children under 12 will be for healthier dietary choices or better-for-you products. While the option of satisfying the commitment through healthy lifestyle messaging or some combination of better-for-you product and healthy lifestyle messaging has been eliminated, the participants will continue to support and promote healthy lifestyles.
The venues and types of marketing covered by the Core Principles also have been expanded to include video and computer games rated EC or Early Childhood, other video games that are age-graded on the label as being primarily child-directed, and cell phone marketing that is primarily directed to children under 12. Word-of-mouth advertising that is primarily directed to children under 12 also will be covered.
