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After analyzing 128 companies' policies regarding food marketing to children, nonprofit watchdog Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has issued a "report card" that gives nearly three-quarters (95) of them an "F" grade for not having policies or having "weak" policies.

The study, spanning food/beverage manufacturers, restaurant chains and entertainment/media companies, did not attempt to assess the companies' actual compliance in cases in which marketing-to-kids policies are in place. Instead, last summer, CSPI staff collected information on the existence/nonexistence and content of company policies via telephone interviews, company Web site searches, articles in the Nexis news service and Google keyword searches.

Companies were identified for inclusion based on food marketing expenditures data (including the Federal Trade Commission's 2008 report on marketing to children) and studies of the most often- visited kids' Web sites. Companies from the top 100 food processors and restaurants that market to children, as well as media companies with top-ranking/most popular licensed characters, movie theater chains, kids' TV channels, kids' movies and kids' magazines were included.

All 16 companies that have policies through the Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) were included (CFBAI's principals include in-school marketing as well as other kids' food marketing). Of the 128 companies analyzed, 87 (68%) were found to have no policy regarding food marketing to children, earning them an automatic "F." Most of these "no policy" companies are restaurant chains or entertainment companies: Just 10 (24%) of the 42 restaurants analyzed and 13 (22%) of the 58 media entities analyzed were found to have policies, versus 18 (64%) of the 28 F&B manufacturers analyzed.

The long list of "no policy" companies includes the owners of restaurant chains Arby's, Chili's, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, Church's Chicken, Cheesecake Factory, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Denny's, Applebee's, IHOP, Domino's Pizza, Golden Corral, Jack in the Box, Little Caesar, Panda Express, Panera Bread, Papa John's, Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen, Romano's Macaroni Grill, Home Town Buffet/Old Country Buffet, Sizzler, T.G.I. Friday's, Texas Roadhouse, Waffle House, Wendy's and Whataburger.

However, CSPI's "no policy" list does include some major food and beverage manufacturers, such as McKee Foods Corp. (Little Debbie snack cakes), Pinnacle Foods Group LLC (Aunt Jemima, Lender's, Duncan Hines), Sara Lee Corp., Schwan's Home Service, Inc. and Sunkist Growers, Inc. Eight companies were deemed to have "very weak" or vague policies, also earning them an "F": Bob Evans Farms, Inc., CBS Corp., American Dairy Queen Corp., Discovery Communications, LLP, Mattel, Inc., NBC Universal, Inc., Univision Communications Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (New Line Cinemas).

No company received an "A." Only one -- Mars, Inc. -- received a "B+," based both on its policy of not marketing to children under 12 and having marketing policies that cover "most of the key media approaches used to reach children, with the exception of on-package marketing and most marketing in high schools," according to CSPI.

One media company (Qubo Venture, LLC) and one food and beverage maker (Procter & Gamble, via its Pringles brand marketing) earned "B" grades. Six were graded "B-": Nestlé USA, Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Cadbury Adams USA, LLC, Hershey Company, Dunkin' Brands and General Mills, Inc. Seventeen companies received a "C."

Those getting a "C+" were Post Foods, PepsiCo, Inc., Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and Coca-Cola Company. The "C's" were Walt Disney Company (ABC, Funschool and Pixar), Burger King Corp., Campbell Soup Company., Sesame Workshop, Hostess Brands, Kellogg Company and ConAgra Foods, Inc. (Chef Boyardee, Kid Cuisine and Peter Pan).

The "C-" list includes Unilever (Popsicle, Skippy), Highlights for Children, Inc., Dannon Company, McDonald's USA, LLC, H.J. Heinz Company (Bagel Bites) and Viacom International Inc. (Nickelodeon). (Per CSPI, companies that have a "no advertising to children under 12" policy in addition to Mars, Inc. include Cadbury Adams, Coca-Cola, Dunkin' Brands, Hershey, Highlights for Children, H.J. Heinz Co., Krispy Kreme and P&G. Those with a "no advertising to children under six" include Campbell Soup, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft, Nestlé, Post Foods and Unilever.)

Seven companies were graded "D," including "D+'s" Sunny Delight Beverages Co., Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp., Cartoon Network and Ruby Tuesday, Inc., and "D's" Doctor's Associates Inc. (Subway), Yum Brands, Inc. (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) and CEC Entertainment Concepts L.P. (Chuck E. Cheese).

The aspects of policies that were analyzed spanned a broad range, including advertising in traditional and digital media, product placements, in-school and other marketing, as well as the nutrition standards applied in marketing policies.

Among all F&B manufacturers with marketing-to-kids policies, 94% had either nutrition standards or no-marketing-to-kids standards. In addition, 50% of restaurants and 46% of entertainment companies with kids' marketing policies had nutrition standards. Among companies with policies, 61% of food manufacturers, 50% of restaurants and 15% of entertainment companies had nutrition standards considered "good" by CSPI, or policies of not marketing food to kids.

"Despite the industry's self-regulatory system, the vast majority of food and entertainment companies have no protections in place for children," said CSPI nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan, who headed up the study.

Noting that the FTC, together with other federal agencies, is expected to propose a set of nutrition criteria and other standards for foods marketed to children that the FTC "hopes" will be adopted on a voluntary basis once finalized in July, Wootan added that if companies who market food to kids do not adopt the standards voluntarily, "they will be clanging the death knell of their self-regulatory initiative and inviting strong government involvement in food marketing aimed at kids."

CSPI's bottom line, as summarized in its "report card" document (available on its Web site): "In order for self-regulation to result in meaningful change, all food and beverage manufacturers, restaurants and entertainment companies that market to children should adopt a uniform set of nutrition standards and apply them to the full range of their marketing to children. If substantial progress in corporate marketing practices does not occur by Jan. 1, 2012, the federal government should adopt legislation or regulations to protect children from the marketing of unhealthy foods."

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As part of a new sweepstakes promoting its chocolate squares, Ghirardelli Chocolate is broadcasting consumer-generated comments about peoples' favorite Ghirardelli "moments" in New York's Times Square, as well as streaming them live on the brand's site.

Fans are being asked to visit the "Million Moments of Timeless Pleasure" sweepstakes site area (ghirardellimoments.com), register and type in a 75-character message about when and where they most enjoy eating Ghirardelli Squares chocolates.

People may register for the sweeps by offering their "moments" any time between now and Oct. 31 (one moment per person per day may be entered), but only comments posted between now and the end of April are eligible for possible broadcasting in Times Square.

"Our customers have told us that there are a million different moments during the day when they reach for our premium chocolate, such as for a burst of energy after a long day or as a special reward after a big success," said Ghirardelli VP, marketing Mona Maher, explaining the creative inspiration for the promotion.

The grand prize for the sweeps is a trip for two to one of four world-famous squares: Times Square, Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, St. Marks Square in Venice or Trafalgar Square in London.

The sweeps also offers thousands of instant-win prizes of bags of chocolate and gift baskets, and one prize of free chocolate for a year.

Simultaneously, Ghirardelli is touring 10 major U.S. cities, distributing one million pieces of Squares chocolate along the way. Consumers can locate the Squares team and follow it on Twitter at @GhirardelliTour.

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To help marketers, agencies and publishers understand how social media is influencing consumer brand perception and purchasing decisions, Knowledge Networks has teamed with MediaPost Communications Inc., the publisher of Marketing Daily and the parent of the Center for Media Research, to launch the "Faces of Social Media," a new, long-term tracking study providing a consumer-centric view of social media's effect on 30 key product categories.

The new syndicated report will track the marketing impact of social media in the general population and on users in five explicit social media segments ranging from "Evangelists" to "Passive Users." Parallels will be drawn from category-specific comparisons with non-users of social media to address the true incremental effect of social media.

"We are helping CMOs and brand managers decide to what degree they should play in social media and how best to target specific audiences," says Simon Kooyman, CEO of Knowledge Networks. "We are painting a more sophisticated picture of social media's influence, showing where and how category consideration and [social media] level of influence intersect."

"While there is a sea of data about social media, little of it speaks to the needs of marketers, who are trying to make specific plans for their categories and brands," adds Chuck Martin, director of MediaPost's Center for Media Research.

The report, which will publish biannual trends, will begin with a report benchmarking what proportion of product category consumers are the highest-potential targets across each of the social media user clusters, how their use of social media is impacting brand perceptions and decisions, how it relates to demographic composition, which social media platforms dominate, and how specific social media features influence the process, how use of social media impacts use of other media, perceived trust of social media information about specific product categories, the influence of "friends" versus "non-friends" on the attitudes of social media users, etc.

To ground the social media/category comparisons, the companies said overall media consumption for each social media segment will accompany the data, as well as a "Social Media Influence Score."

Knowledge Networks is one of the top 15 survey-based consumer research companies in the U.S., and is highly regarded for the quality of its research methods and the representation of its consumer panels.

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