A TV commercial and an iPhone app for the soft drink Fanta has been pulled after the Advertising Standards Board deemed its cartoon-style “Fanta Crew” characters were directed at children as young as nine.
Under the self-regulation of advertising rules, junk food may not be advertised directly to children under 12. One 450ml bottle of Fanta has about 14 teaspoons of sugar.
The commercial featured animated characters known as the Fanta Crew at the beach and riding rollercoasters while talking about the great taste of Fanta which to them is like an “awesome ride”, a “bubble explosion” and makes them feel like “busting out to my favourite beats”.
The Fanta Fruit Slam 2 app and the Fanta “Tastes Like” TV ad were designed to sell an unhealthy product which “should not be promoted to children,” Jane Martin from the public health advocacy group, Obesity Policy Coalition, said on Wednesday.
“Yet in a blatant attempt to appeal to kids, the Fanta TV ad and app feature young and playful cartoon characters called the ‘Fanta Crew’ who talk about and drink Fanta,” Martin said.
“They use child-like imagery such as a rollercoaster, other theme park rides and a playground, as well as wording such as ‘bubble explosion’ and ‘it’s always full of fun’ to engage children.
“At a time when 25% of Australian children are overweight or obese, it is extremely unethical for Coca-Cola to aggressively promote their high sugar products to children in this manner, in breach of their own undertakings.”
The board agreed, rejecting an argument by Coca-Cola that the animation style was nothing like popular children’s programs such as Peppa Pig, Arthur and Little Princess but was a “psychedelic three dimensional” animation designed to appeal to an older, teenage audience.
“Animation is widely accepted as being a media that appeals to many different age groups, not only primarily to children,” Coke said in its submission to the board.
“Many of the most popular animated television programs, including Family Guy, South Park and the Cleveland Show are consistently classified as M or above. Even The Simpsons has M classified episodes.
“We note that Code of Advertising and Marketing Communications to Children Practice Note acknowledges that animation is not necessarily indicative of a marketing communication directly primarily to children.”
But the board ruled the advertisement was more than just attractive to children and it was “clearly directed primarily to children” because of the visuals, language and themes.
Fanta manufacturer Coca-Cola is a signatory to the Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative and has committed not to advertise its products to children under 12 years unless those products represent healthier choices.
