Food makers aim to curb ads using online games to target kids

The food industry's main lobbying group will present recommendations today to curb food advertising aimed at children, but already critics say the group is missing the point.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association wants to crack down on the practice of "advergaming," or advertising within online games and interactive Web sites and to add resources to the industry-funded Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which polices kid-targeted advertising.

But critics say the proposals, to be presented at a Federal Trade Commission meeting on childhood obesity, barely touch the larger issue, which is the lack of nutrition standards for food marketing to kids.

"You can't separate out nutrition and responsible food marketing," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Read the article: www.suntimes.com