Advocates Target Interactive Kid Ads

As marketers continue to debate new self-regulatory guidelines for ads directed at kids, advocacy groups are pushing lawmakers and regulators to curb interactive ads that they claim irresponsibly push junk food at a time when childhood obesity rates are soaring.

Although there are no immediate plans in Washington to ban ads based on their content, proposals abound to limit advertisers’ use of interactive media—especially the emerging possibility that children watching regulated broadcast digital TV will be able, with a click of the remote, to be transported to rules-free Internet selling sites.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said at a July 20 forum in Washington, organized by the advocacy group Children Now, that his agency should “severely limit” click-through advertising.