[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWOcP-bXuO8#t=360]

This is a good visual reminder of what we talked about before – the huge power of marketing to children, and the consequences such strategies can have if children are convinced to prefer particularly unhealthy products. Check out this post that I wrote a while back for more infos!

Edited to add – if you think this sounds a little like a conspiracy, in my research I just stumbled over an article titled “Stealth Marketing – How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously“. Quoting directly from the introduction:

“Since wary and cynical viewers are bombarded with an ever-increasing number of advertising messages, they immediately tend to put up their defenses as they detect they are being sold something. Marketers must therefore rely on more subtle methods of communicating a message to their consumers. Stealth marketing attempts to catch people at their most vulnerable by identifying the weak spot in their defensive shields. Stealth marketing represents the latest in a long line of marketers’ attempts to get their brands noticed in a crowded marketplace by flying below the consumers’ radar. It is considered to be a viable alternative to conventional advertising because it is perceived as softer and more personal than traditional advertising.”

(Kaikati and Kaikati, 2004).

Sounds a little like a battlefield strategy, doesn’t it?