[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 1, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10535-10536]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-1931]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Request for Information and Comment: Food Industry Marketing 
Practices to Children and Adolescents

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

ACTION: Notice requesting information and comment.

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SUMMARY: The Conference Report of Public Law 109-108 instructs the FTC 
to submit a report to Congress by July 1, 2006 on ``marketing 
activities and expenditures of the food industry targeted toward 
children and adolescents.'' To assist in the preparation of this 
report, the Commission seeks relevant information and empirical data 
regarding food and beverage industry marketing to children and 
adolescents.

DATES: Written or electronic comments must be submitted on or before 
Monday, April 3, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to ``Food Marketing to Children and 
Adolescents Report to Congress--Comment, Project No. P064504'' to 
facilitate the organization of comments. A comment filed in paper form 
should include this reference both in the text and on the envelope, and 
should be mailed or delivered, with two complete copies, to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission/Office of the Secretary, 
Room H-135 (Annex H), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20580. Because standard postal mail in the Washington area and at the 
Commission is subject to delay, please consider submitting your 
comments in electronic form, as prescribed below. Comments containing 
confidential material, however, must be filed in paper form, must be 
clearly labeled ``Confidential,'' and must comply with Commission Rule 
4.9(c).\1\
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    \1\ Any request for confidential treatment, including the 
factual and legal basis for the request, must accompany the comment 
and must identify the specific portions of the comment to be 
withheld from the public record. The request will be granted or 
denied by the Commission's General Counsel, consistent with 
applicable law and the public interest. See Commission Rule 4.9(c), 
16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted by clicking 
on the following Web link: https://secure.commentworks.com/foodmarketing and following the instructions on the Web-based form. To 
ensure that the Commission considers an electronic comment, you must 
file it on the Web-based form available at https://secure.commentworks.com/foodmarketing.
    The Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 42-58 (FTC Act), and 
other laws the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use as appropriate. All timely and responsive 
public comments, whether filed in paper or electronic form, will be 
considered by the Commission, and will be available to the public on 
the FTC Web site, to the extent practicable, at http://www.ftc.gov. As 
a matter of discretion, the FTC makes every effort to remove home 
contact information for individuals from the public comments it 
receives before placing those comments on the FTC Web site. More 
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, may 
be found in the FTC's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Johnson, 202-326-3115, or Rielle 
Montague, 202-326-2645, FTC, Bureau of Consumer Protection. The FTC 
staff contacts can be reached by mail at: Federal Trade Commission, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., NJ-3212, Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On July 14 and 15, 2005, the Federal Trade Commission and the 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly sponsored a 
public workshop on food and beverage marketing to children, self-
regulation, and childhood obesity. The public workshop provided a forum 
for representatives from food and beverage companies, medical and 
nutrition experts, media representatives, consumer groups, advertising 
specialists, and other experts to discuss industry self-regulation 
concerning the marketing of food and beverages to children, and 
initiatives to educate children and parents about nutrition. In

[[Page 10536]]

connection with the workshop, the FTC and HHS sought public comment on 
food and beverage marketing to children and various other issues 
related to industry self-regulation and childhood obesity. 70 FR 25060 
(May 12, 2005). The agencies received relatively little empirical data 
addressing the extent of food and beverage marketing to children in 
connection with the workshop.
    On November 22, 2005, the President signed a bill appropriating 
funds for the Commission for FY 2006. Public Law 109-108. The 
Conference Report (H. R. Rep. No. 109-272 (2005)) for this law 
incorporates by reference the following language from the Senate Report 
(S. Rep. No. 109-88 (2005)):

    The Committee is concerned about the growing rate of childhood 
and adolescent obesity and the food industry's marketing practices 
for these populations. The Committee directs the FTC to submit a 
report to the Committee by July 1, 2006, on marketing activities and 
expenditures of the food industry targeted toward children and 
adolescents. The report should include an analysis of commercial 
advertising time on television, radio, and in print media; in-store 
marketing; direct payments for preferential shelf placement; events; 
promotions on packaging; all Internet activities; and product 
placements in television shows, movies, and video games.

Information Requested

    To prepare the report, the Commission seeks relevant information, 
including empirical data, on the nature and extent of marketing 
activities and expenditures targeted to children and adolescents. The 
FTC is interested in receiving publicly available information that can 
be used to prepare the report. However, because it is unlikely that 
information sufficient to prepare the report is publicly available, the 
Commission likely will later issue orders under Section 6(b) of the FTC 
Act (15 U.S.C. 46(b)) \2\ to obtain needed information from food 
industry members.\3\ To assist the Commission in drafting such requests 
so that they elicit the necessary information without imposing any 
unnecessary burdens, the FTC seeks comment on how food and beverage 
companies record and maintain information about their marketing 
activities and expenditures targeted to children and adolescents--for 
example, whether they record and maintain marketing expenditure 
information based on product category, brand, specific product, etc., 
and how long they keep marketing information.\4\ The FTC also seeks 
comment on how food and beverage companies record and maintain 
information about commercial advertising time on television, radio, and 
in print media and information about exposure to products through the 
use of other marketing techniques.
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    \2\ Section 6(b) of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. 46(b)) authorizes the 
FTC to require corporations, partnerships, and persons ``engaged in 
or whose business affects commerce'' (excepting specified entities 
such as certain banking institutions) ``by general or special orders 
* * * [to file] annual or special, or both annual and special, 
reports or answers in writing to specific questions'' to obtain 
information about ``the organization, business, conduct, practices, 
management, and relation to other corporations, partnerships, and 
individuals * * *.''
    \3\ See, e.g., Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 
Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? (Dec. 
2005), at ES-6 (reporting difficulty in assessing the nature and 
extent of food and beverage marketing to children because 
``[s]ubstantial proprietary market research data was not publicly 
accessible, or available only for purchase at considerable cost and 
with prohibitive constraints on public use of the data'').
    \4\ Note that the Commission intends to report only aggregated 
information on marketing activities and expenditures, rather than 
reporting information for specific brands or products. To aggregate 
the data, it will be important to have similar categories of data 
from the various companies.
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    In particular, the FTC requests information and invites comment on 
the following subjects. Commenters should respond with as much 
specificity as possible.
    1. Types of foods and beverages marketed to children and 
adolescents;
    a. The categories or subcategories used to describe these products.
    b. The extent to which food and beverage marketing to children and 
adolescents varies based on age, and the age groups used to target such 
marketing (e.g., 2-5, 6-11, 12-17).
    2. Types of media used in advertising to children and adolescents 
(e.g., broadcast and cable television, radio, print, the Internet, 
outdoor advertising, etc.);
    a. The total amount of advertising expenditures for each medium for 
all foods and beverages marketed to children and adolescents.
    b. The amount of advertising expenditures for each medium for each 
category or subcategory of food and beverages marketed to children or 
adolescents.
    c. The extent to which the medium used to advertise to children and 
adolescents varies based on age, and the age groups used to target such 
advertising (e.g., 2-5, 6-11, 12-17).
    d. The amount of such advertising time on each medium.
    3. Types of techniques used in marketing to children and 
adolescents (e.g., preferential shelf placement and other in-store 
marketing; licensing and cross-promotion of movie, television or 
electronic game programs or characters; product placement; celebrity 
endorsements; word-of-mouth marketing; event-related marketing; product 
packaging; toys and similar prize promotions; in-school marketing, 
etc.);
    a. The total amount of marketing expenditures for each of these 
techniques for all foods and beverages marketed to children.
    b. The amount of marketing expenditures for each of these 
techniques for each category or subcategory of food and beverages 
marketed to children or adolescents.
    c. The extent to which techniques used to market to children and 
adolescents varies based on age, and the age groups used in targeting 
such marketing (e.g., 2-5, 6-11, 12-17).
    d. The product exposure generated for each of these techniques for 
each category or subcategory of food and beverages marketed to children 
and adolescents.
    4. All Internet activities related to the marketing of food and 
beverages to children and adolescents, including advergaming:
    a. The type of Internet activities related to the marketing of food 
and beverages to children and adolescents.
    b. The amount of marketing expenditures for each of these 
activities.
    c. The extent to which such activities used to market to children 
and adolescents varies based on age, and the age groups used in 
targeting such marketing.

Form and Availability of Information and Comments

    The FTC requests that interested parties submit written information 
and comments on the above questions and other related issues to foster 
greater understanding of these topics. Especially useful are any 
studies, surveys, research, and empirical data. All comments should be 
filed as prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above, and must be 
received on or before Monday, April 3, 2006.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 06-1931 Filed 2-28-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P