Six websites accused of using deceiving marketing schemes

Aug 23, 2012 09:37 GMT  ·  By
HappyMeal.com is one of the websites accused of implementing deceiving marketing tactics
   HappyMeal.com is one of the websites accused of implementing deceiving marketing tactics

A number of six websites dedicated to children have been reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by a coalition of children’s health, privacy and consumer advocacy organizations. The companies that managed the sites are accused of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act through their online marketing campaigns.

The sites in question are McDonald’s HappyMeal.com, Turner Broadcasting’s CartoonNetwork.com, General Mills’ ReesesPuffs.com and TrixWorld.com, Doctor’s Associates’ SubwayKids.com, and Nick.com owned by Viacom.

According to the complaints, the digital peer-to-peer marketing campaigns in which customers are asked to “tell a friend” or “refer a friend” are deceptive when aimed at children.

Many of these campaigns urge children to upload their pictures, provide email addresses – their own and the ones of their friends –, and other information.

An example provided in the document refers to the “music video” page on HappyMeal.com. Children are asked to upload their photos and then they’re encouraged to share the video with their friends by providing their email addresses.

“It is very troubling that major companies as McDonalds, General Mills and Nickelodeon are collecting email addresses from children so they can send unsolicited marketing messages to their friends,” Georgetown Law Professor Angela Campbell said.

“These ‘tell-a-friend’ practices violate the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act because they are done without adequate notice to parents and without parental consent. The FTC should act promptly to stop this commercial exploitation of children,” she added.

Furthermore, experts believe that such campaigns are “circumventing privacy safeguards for children.” They warn that in many cases the companies that implement such tactics use deceptive marketing schemes to advertise unhealthy products.

The coalition also believes that the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act should be updated to better clarify what companies can and can’t do when data collecting and behavioral advertising is involved. The groups state that youths should be protected from cookie-based marketing.