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PepsiCo attacked for exploiting ads
- Subject: PepsiCo attacked for exploiting ads
- From: cd@xxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 04:50:00
Subject: PepsiCo attacked for exploiting ads, FTC alaerted
Headline: PepsiCo hits the Net, and exploits kids, as media report alerts
FTC government regulators
Keywords: PepsiCo, Advertising, Internet, Web of Deception, FTC, Center for
Media Education
Date: March 29 1996
PepsiCo hits the Net, and exploits kids, as media report alerts FTC
government regulators
WASHINGTON (UVI) - If PepsiCo gets its way, kids will no longer have a mind
of their own, and part of the $67 billion spent annual in the United States
by children will go more quickly into the PepsiCo coffersas advertisers and
marketers exploit them in cyberspac. A highly volatile report says that
PepsiCo and other companies are manipulating the minds and lifestyles of
children and violating their privacy. And the report has attracted a lot of
attention at the Federal Trade Commission.
The study, issued by the Center for Media Education, urged the FTC to develop
safeguards for children
saying that marketers selling children's products are using a variety of
techniques on computer
online services and the Internet to collect detailed data and used to build
individual profiles on kids.
« Never before has there been a medium with this kind of power to invade the
privacy of children and families » said Kathryn Montgomery, president of
CME, an advocacy group.The study also said nearly 1 million children in the
United States use the Web, and that 3.8 million have access to the Web.
The report, « Web of Deception » targets firms creating « manipulative
infomercials » for kids. Advertising « environments » have been built to
entice kids to play with product, « spokescharacters »; such as Kellogg's
Tony the Tiger and Frito Lay's Chester Cheetah, the study said. « Some of
these practices would be clear violations of existing safeguards designed to
protect children in other media such as broadcast and cable TV » said
Montgomery.
The FTC will look at the report.« Allegations about unfair or deceptive
marketing to children are the types of allegations we take seriously » ,
said Lee Peeler of the FTC. Advertisers have hired cultural anthropologists,
psychologists,and others to study how kids' developmental needs can be «
exploited » online, said the study.
The group, along with officials from other education, consumer and
health-advocacy groups, called on the FTC and online « content providers » to
develop safeguards. The study urged that firms be barred from collecting
personal data about kids; ads and promotions targeted at children be clearly
labeled; direct interaction between children and « spokescharacters » be
prohibited.
The report said kids are being offered free gifts like T-shirts and chances
to win prizes in exchange for filling out surveys that detail their e-mail
address, home address, sex and other personal information.
Tracking technology makes it possible to monitor every interaction between a
child and an advertisement, allowing firms to create personalized ads for a
child, said the study. But Frito Lay, the PepsiCo division, quickly countered
that it was not trying to pitch products. « Our involvement on the Frito Lay
Web site is good clean fun and decidedly no sell. It's entertainment-oriented
» said Frito Lay's Tod MacKenzie.
« Getting on the Internet is entirely voluntary. And you have to choose to
go to a certain Web site », MacKenzie declared. That translates into
selective self-abuse, but hell, do kids no any better, mocks the PepsiCo ad
experts? Companies like PepsiCo tell them what to think and its only up to
them to choose whether they want to think or not. Or is it anylonger a choice
at all. PepsiCo prefers not to wade in those waters.
Said Karen Kafer of Kellogg, « We're confident that the information provided
on our (Internet) home page is consistent with existing children's
advertising guidelines ». The Children's Advertising Review Unit, a
self-regulatory body for advertisers, has a task force studying whether to
change its kids' advertising guidelines for the Internet.
(*This story has been written by UVI with information sourced from Reuters.)