Washington — Food and beverage companies spent $1.6 billion in 2006 on advertising aimed at children, a study released Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission found, often combining ploys from TV to toys to the Internet to push kids to plead "Please Mom, buy me that! Please! Please!"

The report said advertising to children and adolescents frequently uses cross-promotion with movies, television shows or online games to push fast food, soft drinks, cereal, candy and other snacks. The sophisticated sales techniques include "viral marketing" where children are encouraged to send friends e-cards and hyperlinked e-mails that are actually advertisements.

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Food companies spend billions marketing products to kids, according to a federal study. Cross-promotional campaigns linked to popular movies like 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' are frequently used to reach young consumers.

YOUTH MARKETING BY FOOD CATEGORY, 2006 (in millions) Carbonated beverages: $492.5 Restaurant foods: $293.6 Breakfast cereal: $236.6 Juice and noncarbonated beverages: $146.7 Snack foods: $138.7 Candy/frozen desserts: $117.6 Prepared foods and meals: $64.3 Baked goods: $62.5 Dairy products: $54.5 Fruits and vegetables: $11.5 Source: Federal Trade Commission Related health stories • MoMania blog: Raising healthy children without going insane. • Feeding Frenzy: Balancing family, work and food. • Need advice? Check out Connect with Kids tips on raising happy, healthy children Related health stories: Pill as good as chemo on lung cancer, but costlier  Much higher cancer risk in HIV patients raises cancer  Teen lives 4 months with no heart, leaves hospital  HIV tests not yet as routine as cholesterol checks  Atlanta firms keep lid on health care costs  Topics: Atlanta hospitals | Weight loss | CDC | Cancer Tales How to get involved in health-related causes. Back to Health news MOMania Blog Don't go insane!

Of the 44 food and beverage companies studied by the FTC in 2006, two-thirds used the Internet to target children and adolescents with "online, youth-directed activities" that were actually marketing tools such as "advergames" that combine advertising with online play.

"Advergames, directed to both children and adolescents, were featured on Web sites for snacks, cookies, cereals, daily products, frozen meals, beverages, soups, frozen waffles, fruit and restaurant food," the report said.

"These food companies are spending millions of dollars to target children so they can become life-long consumers of their unhealthy products," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

However, the report concedes that the food and beverage manufacturers have "made significant progress" since the Council of Better Business Bureaus launched its voluntary Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative in 2006. The initiative now covers 14 major food and beverage companies including Coca-Cola, Hershey, Mars, Burger King, General Mills, Kellogg, McDonald's and PepsiCo.

At the FTC press conference, the Council of Better Business Bureaus issued its own report showing that most of the participants have met their pledges to either stop or limit advertising aimed at children. This report said that Coca-Cola is among the firms that have "fulfilled their pledges to not engage in any child-directed advertising in media covered by the initiative."

The FTC report, "Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities and Self-Regulation," was undertaken at the direction of Congress. The FTC authors said they had access to internal information from the 44 companies that was "not previously assembled or available to the research community."

The report said the surveyed companies spent about $1.6 billion to promote food and beverages to children and adolescents in 2006. About $860 million was spent on marketing aimed at children under the age of 12 and about $1 billion at adolescents, with an overlap of $300 million in marketing aimed at both age groups.

Carbonated beverages, restaurant food and breakfast cereals accounted for $1.02 billion, or 63 percent of the total spent on advertising aimed at the young Americans.

To illustrate the cross promotion and integration of campaigns, the report used the movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which was popular with children and released in July of 2006. The movie was tied into fast food children's meals, fruit, frozen waffles, breakfast cereals, popcorn, lunch kits, fruit snacks, lunch kits and candy directed at children and adolescents. The advertisements took the form of TV and in-theater ads, Internet advergames, specially marked packaging, prizes, premiums and in-store displays.

"One candy company created limited edition candy products, including 'White Chocolate Pirate Pearls,' 'Shipwreck Treasure Mix,' and 'Jack's Gems,'" the report said.

It's no wonder there is an epidemic of childhood obesity, said Harkin, who had sought the study.

"Add it all up, the experts say that there is a very real prospect that today's kids could be the first generation in American history to have a shorter lifespan than their parent's generation," Harkin said. "Parents are being undermined by the junk food culture that is increasingly promoted to our kids on TV, on the Internet and even in their schools."

Marketing in schools occurred primarily through displays on or around vending machines or in cafeterias, the report said. The food and beverage companies sponsored athletic events and equipment, provided product samples and sometimes provided instructional materials about nutrition and fitness.

The report urged the companies to use their marketing techniques to promote healthy dietary choices and exercise.

The report did not link childhood obesity to advertising aimed at children.

"Childhood obesity is a complex problem, with many social and economic contributing factors," the report concluded. But "food and beverage marketers can employ a wide range of strategies" to reverse the trend toward fatter kids, it said.