Online toys, the new sales ploy

BOSTON - As computer games go, Flip the Mix is one of the simplest. There are no bullets to dodge or aliens to blast. Just line up three colored dots in a row to score 100 points.

But the dots are stamped with the familiar logo of M&Ms, the popular candy-coated chocolates. The object of the game is to achieve a higher score than Red, one of the obnoxious candies that appears in M&Ms television commercials.

The entire game is a commercial, running 24 hours a day on the M&Ms Web site. Bored with that? There's always Coke.com, Nabiscoworld.com or Millsberry.com. Each of these sites is loaded with simple games that advertise as well as entertain.

It's called "advergaming," and more and more of the world's best-known consumer products companies are doing it. But some critics worry that the colorful and simple games are attracting children who are too young to properly evaluate the marketing messages.

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