Short Takes: Privacy Groups on Snack Attack

A coalition of  consumer advocacy and privacy organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission stating that PepsiCo and its subsidiary Frito-Lay  are targeting youth with branded entertainment that constitutes advertising. The complaint states that this constitutes deceptive advertising. “These companies are targeting youth with chips and sodas, using advertising that is masquerading as entertainment,”  said Jeffrey Chester, of the Center for Digital Democracy.

The FTC,  the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Agriculture recently submitted proposed voluntary guidelines for food marketers in April that suggested limits on the way foods are marketed online and offline. The guidelines will not include marketing directed at children aged 12 to 17.

More in Media

Why brands like Gap Inc. and Staples are inviting their employees to be creators

Companies are scrambling for creators. Turns out they already employ them.

GIF of a robot reading a newspaper, symbolizing deep learning’s role in analyzing data and transforming advertising strategies

Media Briefing: The case for and against markdown for AI bots

Markdown is becoming publishers’ latest AI optimization tactic, raising questions about the scraping tradeoff.

People Inc. CEO: We’re not turning off Google crawlers yet

People Inc. won’t cut off Google’s AI crawlers yet, citing its continued dependence on Google search traffic even as referrals decline.