Marketing Responsibly to Children At The ASCI, Sliver Jubilee Seminar, Mumbai, 10 th June 2010 By Bejon Misra 27 Years in the Indian Consumer Movement Former Chairman, Consumer Coordination Council, New Delhi

Children as Consumers Children are becoming consumers at younger and younger ages They are more empowered today to not only take decisions but influencers too Access to Television advertisements is a key mover and has made the difference Extremely poor knowledge on health and safety issues

What are the Consumer Rights ? 1.The right to satisfaction of basic needs 2.The Right to Safety 3.The Right to be Informed 4.The Right to Choose 5.The Right to be Heard 6.The Right to Redress 7.The Right to Consumer Education 8.The Right to a Healthy Environment

What are the key issues ? 80% think TV Ads are targeting children the most 88% feel the food companies should be more responsible towards children 84% feel Government should do more to protect the children

What are the Global Concerns Not to use Children as tools of marketing Children can not be commercialized School premises should be insulated from brand promotion Parents should bring social values rather than monetary incentives to children

Link established between obesity and marketing to children WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity & health 2005 Governments told to take action on food marketing to children WHA 2010 India also joins the movement to initiate adoption of several UN treaties on marketing to children

Some of the + steps taken recently PepsiCo’s announcement on new Global Policy 2012 Creative movies like “Taare Zameen Par” has proved the success Consumers International develops the code of marketing to children Several countries bring in regulations on marketing to children

What is the way forward ? There are several existing regulations let us not create more In absence of relevant research and precautionary principles we must develop the code of conduct We should focus on schools and Television programs as the first step forward

Health & Safety of Children Should Always Prevail Over Profit

Thanks for listening to me