Kellogg, Coca-Cola and McDonalds hit the spotlight in the 2017 Parents’ Voice Fame and Shame awards which were established to call out companies for marketing unhealthy products to children.
Kellogg took out two of the five awards in the Digital Ninja, and the Smoke and Mirrors categories, according to an AdNews report.
The awards, which aim to highlight the worst offenders, flagged Kellogg’s Halloween partnership with Shazam using augmented reality for targeting children and driving active participation in the brand in the Digital Ninja category.
Kellogg also picked up a Smoke and Mirrors award for an LCM commercial that the organisers said made an “unhealthy product appear healthier than it was”. Kellogg has rejected the criticism, however, saying the claims in its LCM ad - that it contains no artificial colours or flavours - was factually correct.
Coke was the recipient of the Foul Sport award for its Powerade Powerscore campaign, which leveraged well-known sporting identities, including cricketer Michael Johnson and footballer Billy Slater, to promote the sports drink.
The company’s Coke Summer campaign took out the Bother Boards award for its use of interactive billboards to get teenagers to use their phones to connect to the panel and throw ice cubes at cans for Coke, with winners receiving a dispensed can.
Coke also won a dishonourable mention for teaming up with the Salvation Army to bring its Coke Christmas truck to Australia. Separately, an online parent lobby group has launched a petition to ban the truck from touring Australia, with its last stop at Sydney's Carols in the Domain, according to AdNews.
McDonalds won the Pester Power award for a Despicable Me 3 Family Box commercial that featured a young boy wearing a minion bodysuit.
On positive note, Aussie Apples took out two Fame categories for encouraging children to adopt healthier food and drink choices, with Aldi and Netball Australia also recognised.
