Lawyers Warn Marketers to Prepare for a Litigious 2007
By Stephanie Thompson and Lisa Sanders
Published: January 17, 2007
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Lawyers are rolling up their sleeves for the bounty of work in the children’s advertising arena this year surrounding obesity and, likely, a whole lot more.
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Despite intimating that no peace is in sight for an industry trying to protecting itself against potential litigants, John Feldman was adamant that food marketers not be constrained by critics and regulations.
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“2007 will be a year of focus on kids’ advertising,” said John Feldman, partner at law firm Reed Smith, at the Association of National Advertisers’ Advertising Law & Business Affairs Conference that began today. At the conference, Mr. Feldman announced the creation of KidAdLaw.com, a website offering news and updates on regulatory activities pertaining to marketing to children.
Right now, he said, the scrutiny is on food marketers’ advertising to children, but a number of other self-regulated categories could be next on the docket. “Politically,” he said, “what gets traction better than kids?”
‘Children’s Advertising in the Crosshairs’
Mr. Feldman and C. Lee Peeler, president-CEO of the National Advertising Review Council, appeared in a panel dubbed “Overweight and Overwrought: Children’s Advertising in the Crosshairs.”
At issue were what Mr. Feldman calls the “rules of the sandbox” for marketers of children’s products or services amid newly revised guidelines for the Children’s Advertising Review Unit and the creation of a Children’s Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative led by the top 10 marketers in the kids’ package-goods space.
Despite intimating that no peace is in sight for an industry trying to protecting itself against potential litigants, Mr. Feldman was adamant that food marketers not be constrained by critics and regulations. “If you’re in the business of selling candy, sell candy; if you’re in the business of selling burgers, sell burgers,” he said. Where marketers need to tread carefully in this high-stakes game of “gotcha” is in dressing up products as healthy when they’re not.
“If you make something that is a treat, full of fat and calories, any implication that it’s healthy is dangerous,” he said.
‘The No. 1 commercial pariah’
Indeed, if food marketers aren’t careful, said Guy M. Blynn, VP-deputy general counsel, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., they could end up like his employer, which he called “the No. 1 commercial pariah in America.”
Mr. Blynn, along with Geoffrey K. Beach, a partner at law firm Jones Day, spoke on a panel called “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire.” They shared lessons learned and advice going forward for attendees, such as those from Big Food, who may find themselves in similar situations.
For example, Mr. Beach suggested several approaches to writing and keeping documents that may help marketers in the case of a lawsuit. When even a memo outlining a brainstorming session can come back to bite a company in court, “context is key,” he said. One little explanatory paragraph at the start of a document could be enough to show the true weight of a printed statement. It is also important to remember that documents will be around for a long, long time, so “mean what you say, and say what you mean.”
The ultimate key to staying out of the courts, however, may lie in permission-based direct marketing, they said. It’s all about making it hard to opt in and easy to opt out. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco’s age-verification process is multitiered and backed up by either face-to-face proof or third-party verification — but that’s a lot to go through to buy a box of Oreos.
We need education in society to make healthy food choices it is sad when we have left common sense so far at the end of the universe that we now have to have regulatory measures to keep us from buying junk food not only for us but our children. Furthermore what the hell is up with letting children control the junk food that comes into the house and the marketing anyway. Just say no to your kids they will get over it. They dont need moon pies, candy bars, snack cakes, and all that other crap. I say no to my kid at least a thousand times if not more when it comes to junk food and the purchase of it in the store or wherever we may be. We have at minimum ice cream on a regular basis around here. I did buy him Yogos the other day but I rationed them out to him. I don’t let him have all the candy he gets at Halloween, and Valentines day. I go through it pick out the junk and then let him have what I consider the healthier of the lot. Then I trash the rest of it. He is better for it and he has demonstrated at school to his teachers that he can make healthy food choices at breakfast and lunch.
It starts in the home parents need to get the kids out from in front of the TV anyway if they arent in front of the TV 24/7 then they arent exposed to the ads pure and simple. I let my son watch maybe two hrs a night tops of tv. On the weekends it is negotiable depending on what there is on TV that I want to watch. Moderation is also key if you really feel that it is going to be detrimental to your relationship with your child to never let him or her have junk food then learn how to ration it out to them so they dont make gluttons of themselves.
I am on a limited income but just because I am on a limited income doesnt mean I have to eat junk. I can still eat healthy. Instead of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs with white bread have a lean hamburger with low fat sliced cheese and a vegetable it really does cost about the same maybe just a little more but it is worth it to spend more on healthy foods than junk foods.
I want to hear your thoughts fire away and hold nothing back. Just try and be respectful and no name calling at the very least.
Joe
