In the UK, a September published FSA (Editor’s note: Food Standards Agency) report concluded that advertising to children does impact on their preferences, purchase behaviour and food consumption. The report author, Professor Gerard Hastings of the University of Strathclyde Centre for Social Marketing, concluded that “these effects are apparent not just for different brands but also for different types of food.” Labour MP Debra Shipley has introduced a widely suppported private member’s bill (National Heart Forum, the Food Commission, Diabetes UK, the National Consumer Council, the British Heart Foundation and the National Obesity Forum amongst others) calling for a ban on advertising of foods containing high levels of sugar, fat and salt to pre-school children.
Speaking at the influential International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) conference, Susan Jebb of the Medical Research Council’s Human Nutrition Research Unit called upon the British government to instigate measures to turn the rising child obesity tide. “Most children are not fat. It is not too late if we act now. In adults we are just 10 years behind the USA and that is nothing at all. Ten years ago we all thought Americans were huge and that is the situation here now. We seem to be just following in the footsteps of the United States.”
Claiming that the British government was “on the case”, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell ruled out a ban on junk food advertising in a supplicant speech to the UK advertising industry last month; pointing to the symbiotic relationship betwen children’s broadcasting and food advertising and calling for a self regulatory brief of moderation. Adopting the same “common sense and personal responsibility” tactics applied across the pond by Keller, Jowell called on advertisers to “keep your industry and the public healthy. Use every weapon in your arsenal, every creative muscle. Everything in Moderation – that’s the message. Good luck and make it a slogan.” This despite the fact that 85% of Britons who took part in a March commissioned FSA survey believe that there should be more controls over the way fast food is marketed to children.
It is no exaggeration to suggest that
McDonald’s McKids venture is a reaction to the threat of a potential advertising ban; certainly it is proof of a diversified marketing strategy which potentially renders such threats irrelevant. What better advertisement for McDonald’s than hordes of children dressed in the candy stripe cheeseburger colours favoured by Ronald McDonald? McDonald’s has of course been down the McKids road before, having launched a previous McKids clothing stores venure which went under in 1991 due to poor sales. The difference this time is that McDonald’s aim is to, once and for all, firmly establish itself in the firmament of lifestyle brands uppermost in children’s minds – any profits made from the licensing venture will most likely be viewed as an interesting dividend from the bigger project for the hearts and minds of children from Tijuana to Taipei. It is a strategy beloved of the tobacco industry, who famously circumvented tobacco advertising restrictions by diversifying brands into other products and by creating powerful brand associations from the brand’s constituent parts. Hardly surprising that it is a practice commonly known in the business as “dark marketing”.
The McKids licensing plan comes hot on the heels of the burger giant’s first unified global advertising television campaign (“i’m lovin’ It”), which McDonald’s credits with its recent upturn in sales fortunes. The campaign, which “depicts how consumers about the world feel about the brand and the way McDonald’s fits into their lives”, includeds three “brand versions” in 12 different languages. McDonald’s most recent marketing innovations (the satire that is World Children’s Day where children are invited to eat for charity and McKids) show that McDonald’s is determined – to use the jargon – to stay “top of mind”.
According to Light, McKids “helps us establish McDonald’s as more than a trademark – we call it a trustmark”. With Ronald McDonald as acting Chief Happiness Officer who could argue with that? Wearing its social responsibility hat, McDonald’s has said that it will require all McKids licensees to adhere to participate in a social accountability programme to prevent the exploitation of children in the manufacturing process (McKids clothes will be made in China). American and British children for their part must look to administrations so toothless that it is questionable they could even manage a McFlurry for their protection from the McDonald’s consumption merry-go-round.
William MacDougall lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He is a regular contributor to a number of lifestlyle and political publications and websites including Counterpunch (US), The List,/i> (UK), MediaLens (UK), Outlook India, Seven Oaks (Canada), Underground Focus (UK), The Ex-Berliner and Z Magazine (US).
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