FTC: Kids Target of $1.6B in Food Ads

Children are confronted with such a barrage of advertising for food and drink - much of it unhealthy - that the entertainment industry should take steps to tie popular TV and movie characters to more nutritional products, the Federal Trade Commission says. The recommendation was part of a report showing that the nation's largest food and beverage companies spent about $1.6 billion in 2006 marketing their products — especially carbonated drinks — to children and adolescents. The report, to be released today, stems from lawmakers' concern about growing obesity rates in children. It gives researchers new insight into how much companies are spending to attract youth to their products, and what venues the companies are using for their marketing. To come up with its estimate, the FTC used confidential financial data that it required the companies to turn over.