1. Advergames
Just another way food companies advertise to children

2. Studies have found that “in recent years, there has
been a growing recognition that children’s poor
nutrition may be cause, at least in part, by marketing
of unhealthful food.”
Obesity is a rising academic in the United States, and
although many people portrayed in the media are thin
or sometimes too skinny, this is not how many actual
people are, in part due to ads that promote unhealthy
foods

3. Objective of advertising such as advergames is to
make lifelong customers through product recognition
Children recognize brands at as early as 18 months
Identify characters, colors, and symbols by age 2
Begin to identify objects by age 3

4. Term coined in 2000
Brand rich environments that merge a video-game
with advertising
The product is an integral part of the game
Unlike television, where the advertisement is usually
about 30 seconds long, children may play advergames
repeatedly and therefore have repeated exposure to the
brand identifier
Can be found on the food website, which includes many
different branding strategies from the company
Advergames

5. Recent studies found that after playing a food
advergame, children preferred that brand of food
Many different strategies are used to get children to
visit the food website after viewing the commercial
Online games (84%)
Sweepstakes Contests (47%)
Free Downloads (36%)
Ability to Customize Page (10%)

6. Over 91% of games offer a play again option to
lengthen a child’s visit on the site
Over 52% of games offer the chance to work toward a
higher level
17% of the games gave the player opportunity to win
free prizes
Advergame Statistics

7. “Studies have shown that children prefer branded
food over non-branded food… the use of brand
identifiers, particularly in games, is quite common.”
“Health professionals working to promote healthful
nutrition cannot possibly compete on their won with
the resources the food industry devotes to marketing
and building.”

8. Bell, R., Cassady, D., & Culp, J. (2010). Characteristics of food industry
web sites and “advergames” targeting children. Journal of Nutrition
Education and Behavior, 42, 197-201. Retrieved from
http://proxy.geneseo.edu:2106/genre=article&issn=14994046&titl
e=Journal+of+Nutrition
+Education+and+Behavior&volume=42&issue=3&date=20100501
&atitle=Characteristics+of+Food+Industry+Web+Sites+and+%22Adverga
mes%22+Targeting+Children&spage=197&sid=EBSCO:eric&pid=
Reference