Advertising for ice cream, soft drinks, fast food and confectionery products outnumbers advertising of healthier food options by over two to one on children’s websites, according to research carried out by the Cancer Council of NSW. The power of the internet as an advertising tool has been increasing as people spend more and more time online, and it is not surprising that children are now the subject of more targeted campaigns.

Product placement within games has become prevalent as marketers continue to expand the variety of ways they can achieve greater brand awareness and brand recall. Meanwhile, television advertising is still very popular with a Sun-Herald analysis of last Thursday’s advertisements indicating that between the hours of 6am and 9pm there were a total of 132 ads promoting foods high in sugar/fat on channels Seven, Nine and Ten alone. Ten showed the most with 56 over the 15-hour period, which is not surprising as Ten programming is largely geared toward younger demographics.

These findings come as consumer groups worldwide mount a campaign to restrict junk food advertising on television and online mediums and such figures are only likely to fuel their concerns.

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