marketing to kids

The nation's big retailers are betting on exclusive lines to ring up back-to-school sales, and also targeting kids and teens where they wile away the hours -- online -- with digital campaigns designed to both entertain and stoke a social-shopping experience tailor-made for the tech-savvy generation.

There'll be no more focus on french fries and soda as the founding tenets of the kid's meal faith, say competing press releases from McDonald's and the National Restaurant Association (NRA). OK, maybe soda. But french fries will be taken down a notch. In a roundly lightweight move to stave off...

McDonald's got a letter from 550 health experts Wednesday accusing the fast food giant of ignoring the impact its products -- and its marketing -- have on America's children. It's not the first such criticism of McDonald's, but so far, the attacks don't appear to have hurt its sales.

The sales pitch is always opportunistic, yes? And no time in my life was I more susceptible than when the rush of mothering hormones flowed over me in the first few months of my pregnancy and then, again, when I came home from the hospital. Everyone was beloved, and if they were selling something...

Aggressive advertising by fast-food companies has taught 15% of preschoolers to ask to go to McDonald's every day, and convinced teens it's OK to consume as many as 1,100 calories in a single meal, says a sharply critical study of the industry's marketing tactics from Yale's Rudd Center for Food...

A nonprofit consumer watchdog is threatening to sue McDonald's unless the fast-food giant stops using toys to market fast food to children. Using toys to promote "Happy Meals" represents unfair and deceptive marketing and is illegal under various state consumer protection laws, according to the...

There's an old saying: "Fish where the fish are." That's exactly the approach big brands are taking as the era of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube transforms how companies engage with consumers, especially the youth market. Case in point: Coca Cola (KO). The beverage giant is taking a deep dive into...

Reaching a captive audience has long been a top priority for advertisers. After all, what better way is there to promote a product than right before a movie, when ticket buyers are settling in for two hours, or on a subway placard facing seat-bound commuters? Yet, a recent plan to sell advertising...