Unilever, the global consumer goods giant has decided to put an end to all marketing and advertising initiatives of its food and beverage brands which are primarily targetted to children.
It will not market the products to children under the age of 12 across traditional media channels, and below the age of 13 on social media and digital media channels. The giant plans to action this decision by the end of 2020.
Any form of marketing and advertising will not be permitted to any brands owned by Unilever. They won’t use any celebrities, influencers or social media stars who have the power to influence children. A limitation will be imposed on the use of cartoon characters too. However, some cartoon characters will be featured across point-of-sale materials, those will be used for certain selected products that quality a specific nutritional profile, Unilever stated this in their blog post.
Unilever’s decision came soon after the World Health Organisation announced childhood obesity as of the most serious public health issues of the 21st century. According to their blog post, the giant wants to help parents and children make wise and informed decisions while buying and consuming food and beverages.
The implementation of this plan will be lead by Unilever’s ice cream business. Needless to state that children are the main target market for ice creams and wonder how will this decision hit the business.
Wall’s – the name behind brands such as Max, Paddle Pop, Twister along with their other brands will adopt a unique brand promise, “Responsibly made for kids” and will be based on principles such as responsibly communicated, responsibly sold and responsibly developed.
While there has been no announcement from Hindustan Unilever about the above mentioned initiative, but if that happens then it’s going to hurt the media as HUL is one of the biggest advertisers of the country.
