FTC Subpoenas 48 Food Companies in Follow-Up to Youth Marketing Study

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered 48 food companies “to file a special report” on their youth marketing practices in an effort “to measure the effect that self-regulation has had over the last three years,” according to FTC spokesperson Carol Jennings. The companies have 90 days to respond to the subpoenas, which will assist FTC in compiling a follow-up to its 2008 report titled “Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation.” Additional information about this ongoing process appears in Issue 320 of this Update. See Advertising Age, September 1, 2010.

“We are supportive of industry voluntary efforts to limit their marketing to kids and this will see whether more is needed,” stated Jennings, who noted that the commission is “not proposing any regulation” at this time. See Advertising Age, September 1, 2010.