Ad description
An online game, seen on Facebook on 31 October 2011, promoted Krave cereal. The game featured a Krave cereal piece dressed as a super hero. The object of the game was to guide the character over platforms, by jumping over gaps and household obstacles to chase and jump on pieces of chocolate.
Issue
Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming challenged whether the game encouraged poor nutritional habits and an unhealthy lifestyle in children.
Response
Kellogg Marketing and Sales Company (UK) Ltd (Kellogg's) said Krave cereal was aimed at a young adult audience and was marketed through young adult channels such as late-night TV advertising and sampling on university campuses. They said any digital advertising was directly targeted at young adults only. Kellogg's said they actively took steps to prevent an under 17s audience by placing the game in environments that had built-in age gates. They said the game was only accessible via the Krave Facebook page, or via smartphone download from the Krave website.
To access the game via Facebook, a user needed to be logged into their Facebook profile, and Facebook checked their existing Facebook profile information to ensure they were 17 years of age, before they could click through to play the game. Kellogg's pointed out that that age information would have been provided when the Facebook account was set up, weeks, months or even years earlier, when no incentive to input an incorrect age existed. Kellogg's added that the prizes in the game were not designed to appeal to children, with adult sized T-shirts and sweatbands being among the prizes.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA noted that users were required to log in to their Facebook profile to play the game, and that Facebook checked a user's date of birth in their profile information before allowing them to play. We also noted that a user's date of birth was input into Facebook when the account was set up, which was likely to have been some time before the user attempted to access the game, and before the user had a reason to misstate their age. We noted the CAP Code defined a child as someone under 16 years of age, and considered that because Kellogg's had taken steps to ensure that people under 17 could not access the game, the game was not aimed at children. We therefore concluded the game did not encourage poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle in children.
We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 15.11 15.11 Marketing communications must not condone or encourage poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle in children. (Food, food supplements and associated health and nutrition claims) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
