TOKYO—At first glance, the Lcafe appears no different than any of the dozens of cozy cafés in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, where trend-conscious young people flock to sip coffee and nibble on cakes and sandwiches.

But look closely at the froth of the cappuccino or a coaster resting beneath a drink or the artwork hanging on the wall and it reveals the café’s side business: pitching new products to affluent and influential young Japanese women.

It’s called a marketing café, a first of its kind in Japan. Sample Lab Ltd. opened the Lcafe last month as a way to reach Japanese women in their 20s and 30s with information about new products.

“Women take an initiative in shopping, they spark a trend,” said Kouhei Nishida, a manager of business development of Sample Lab. “Those young women can serve as influencer.”

At Lcafe, customers must register via mobile phone and provide personal information including age, birthday and marital status in order to become a member. They can, however, use a nickname and needn’t give their exact address.

Once registered, the customers get tokens based on the amount of food or drink they ordered. Those tokens are then brought to a brightly lit “sample bar” where customers redeem the tokens for samples. After being open less than two months, the café has more than 2,000 registered members.

At Lcafe on a recent day there were eight companies offering samples of products. Among them were Refresh Time, a vitamin-infused drink by House Wellness Foods Corp.; pretzel sticks with flavors such as cheese, apple or tomato; and assorted skincare products.

Faced with pressure to reduce costs amid an economic downturn, Japanese advertisers are increasingly questioning the effectiveness of mass advertising and are turning to targeted promotions like samples as more affordable than television ads or glossy magazine spreads.

“There is a fresh interest in distributing samples, as technologies using the Internet and mobile phones, which were not available in the past, allow companies to see the impact of sample promotion,” said Yuhi Hori, in the event promotion division of Dentsu Inc., Japan’s largest advertising agency.

A monthly marketing industry trade magazine called Hansoku Kaigi ran a 21-page feature on samples in its latest issue. It offered tips on how to best use samples to draw crowds and maximize the impact from give-aways.

Harimayahonten Co., a major Japanese maker of rice crackers, set up a café in the corner of its Tokyo store and offered customers a plate of rice crackers with a coffee. Sales have risen 30% and profit from the increased traffic has more than offset the cost of operating the café, the store manager said.

Misako Minami, a 22-year-old college senior stopping in at the Lcafe one afternoon with her boyfriend, said, “It’s simple [to register]. I feel value for money because I can get samples of new products while having a meal.”

Registered members get a bar code that shows up on their mobile phone, which serves as a membership ID and helps Sample Lab track who got what sample. Sample Lab later sends out questions to see how a member liked a particular item. Those who answer the electronic survey get extra tokens for more samples.

Last month, KDDI, Japan’s second largest mobile operator, ran a one-month promotion at the Lcafe for “biblio,” a new e-reader handset from Toshiba for its “au” mobile service. The Lcafe printed icons of phones and books on tables, napkins and even the uniform of the staff. A special menu was created and the phones were placed on all the tables.

“We could convey to our customers how biblio works through actual experience, which is not possible through a TV commercial,” said Chieko Yoshida, a manager of the promotion division at KDDI.

Sample Lab estimates it costs about 150,000 yen ($1,590) for displaying samples at the sample bar and distributing up to 1,500 items for two weeks. Collecting feedback on samples and analyzing it costs about 625,000 yen.

The café, which serves liquor, is open from 10 a.m. until 4:30 a.m. The café clearly caters to women—men are prohibited in the after-midnight hours, dubbed “Cinderella Time.” The ratio of female to male customers is 9 to 1, Lcafe said.

Not all marketers are convinced about the benefits of Lcafe. Hideyuki Suehiro, in the brand design division of Hakuhodo , a major Japanese ad agency, says the Lcafe lacks a system to encourage customers to spread their café experience through word of mouth on the Internet.

Responding to that criticism, Mr. Nishida says the company has such a goal when it opens more outlets. Sample Lab plans to expand Lcafe to other major Japanese cities, including Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka, in the next couple of years, and eventually overseas, hoping to become a promotion and marketing research firm focused on young women.

Fans of the AMC’s Mad Men know that the show, about fictional 1960s advertising agency Sterling Cooper, names other real-life agencies and brands to achieve some verisimilitude.

What they may not know is that some of those are actual product placements.

The show’s third season, which premiered Sunday (Aug. 16), featured placements with London Fog and Stolichnaya vodka that both brands said were engineered.

In the first episode of the third season, London Fog is a client of Sterling Cooper’s and the father and son running the company appear at odds about the direction of the brand, leading Mad Men’s protagonist, Don Draper (Jon Hamm), to dream up a new ad campaign.

Stoli, meanwhile, gets the thumbs up from agency head Roger Sterling (John Slattery), who is shown celebrating with the drink and denying upstart Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) the vodka ("Not the Stoli!") A rep for London Fog confirmed that the brand’s placement was indeed facilitated by the company’s pr agency, though she didn’t say if any money changed hands.

Andrey Skurikhin, a partner at SPI Group, which owns the Stoli brand, said that he didn’t pay for placement. Skurikhin said Mad Men’s production company contacted him and, he, being a fan of the show, gladly acquiesced, even producing a bottle from 1963 to conform to the show’s historical accuracy.

Skurikhin said he had no idea about future placements, but is pursuing others for the vodka: “It’s one of the great tools of brand awareness.”

When asked whether other brands mentioned on the show on previous seasons like Utz and Cadillac were paid placements, AMC president and general manager Charlie Collier was coy: “We absolutely have product integration on the show, but you shouldn’t know which ones are paid and which ones aren’t.” Collier also declined to name other brands that will be part of season three, citing a diktat by Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner not to reveal any details, no matter how mundane, about upcoming episodes.

An academy focusing on the oil and gas industry is opening at Southwest High School when classes start this month.

The International Petroleum Association Academy program is providing the curriculum, speakers and other related activities for the academy, the fourth of its kind. The three others are in the Houston area. Southwest teachers who will be involved with the academy were sent by the association to a five-day training camp at the University of Houston. Local energy companies are helping to pay for the program.

The program will open with about 50 students who will go through the four-year curriculum, taking math, science and business classes related to the energy industry as part of their core and elective courses.

Business leaders hope that it will inspire youngsters to enter the energy field. School officials see the academy as one of the first steps to improving career-pathway options at all Fort Worth high schools. But some critics worry about the academy’s presence in a public school, saying private industries shouldn’t set curriculum.

The association chose Fort Worth for its fourth location because of the Barnett Shale, recently cited as the biggest natural gas-producing field in the United States, said Doris Richardson, director of the association’s education center in Houston.

“It was a natural progression,” she said. “We will see how this unfolds and are looking forward to creating more academies here.”

District officials celebrated the academy’s opening during a ceremony Monday attended by Mayor Mike Moncrief, whose family has been in the oil business for three generations. He said the energy industry is important to the city and has helped cushion some of the blows of the struggling economy. Though gas production has slowed recently, he said, Fort Worth’s youth should be prepared for the future once prices rise again and production picks up.

“Barnett Shale has created new jobs and new opportunities,” he said.

Opposition

Don Young, who has opposed urban gas drilling, attended the ceremony to tell leaders that he is concerned about the program becoming a part of Fort Worth’s public schools and what students would be taught.

“This is another foot in the door for these private corporations in a public entity,” he said. “I hope they are not just learning about how to drill but the impact that drilling has,” such as on the environment and wildlife.

Robert Weissman of the Washington, D.C.-based Commercial Alert group, which monitors private and commercial entities in public venues, said the academy is one of the most extensive industry-involved programs he knows of in a public school. Most such programs usually involve career-oriented charter schools, he said.

“This is a bad thing . . . because it is giving them the power to set the curriculum, to teach students to think the way they want them to and to use the school as their private training ground,” he said.

Southwest Principal Yassmin Lee said the program will have safeguards, such as teacher oversight, to ensure its integrity.

“Our teachers are providing the instruction,” she said. “Education in our school comes first.”

Fort Worth Superintendent Melody Johnson said the program will not have any agenda other than to interest students in math and science and expose them to possible careers and college pathways.

“The education process is about rigorous debate,” Johnson said.

Johnson has said in the past year that her goal is to make career-centered programs stronger at schools so that students want to attend each high school. Some programs attract a few dozen students, while others have nearly 200.

“We have to go beyond the traditional idea of what vocational education is,” she said, adding that it should prepare students for college.

The district is also working on developing a high school program for biomedical sciences that will be done in conjunction with the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Southwest incoming freshman Ashley Menendez, 14, said she applied to the academy in the hopes of earning credit for college.

“I’d like to try it and get a better grasp of the engineering part of it,” she said, noting that she’s interested in learning more about the subject before she decides whether to pursue it.

Australia’s top doctors body says junk food ads should be barred from peak children’s TV viewing times, as research shows the super-sized health benefits the move would deliver.

A study conducted at Melbourne’s Deakin University found banning the ads would lead to a 1.4 per cent - or more than half a kilogram - reduction in weight of the average Australian child.

It would also result in a saving of $300 million which the government would otherwise face in obesity-related health costs.

“While the Food and Grocery Council may be in denial, every parent knows that junk food advertising to children at any time of the day undermines efforts to encourage healthy eating habits,” Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Dr Andrew Pesce said.

“The Federal and State Governments have agreed on shared national targets for reducing obesity.
“It is time for the Federal Government to show it’s serious about the targets by banning junk food advertising to children.”

The Australian Society for the Study of Obesity has estimated that childhood obesity is rising at an annual rate of one per cent.

Dr Pesce said if this continues, around half of all young Australians will be overweight within 20 years.

The Deakin University research - published in the International Journal of Obesity - modelled the effect of banning the ads within a suite of “interventions” all designed to reduce childhood obesity.

Other measures considered include steps to encourage more children to walk to school, in-school fitness programs, lap band surgery for obese children and doctor-led initiatives.

“Banning TV junk food ads was the highest impact and most cost-effective intervention to reduce childhood obesity that we have modelled to date,” said Boyd Swinburn, Professor of Population Health at Deakin.

“It would not only reduce childhood obesity but it would do so in an equitable way affecting all children and it would eventually result in savings to the taxpayers of $300 million.”

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration is looking into whether selling naming rights and other forms of advertising might help the city make needed infrastructure improvements.

The city is billions of dollars behind in infrastructure repairs, and Ballard said he’s considering all options to get back on track, 6News’ Rick Hightower reported.

“Indianapolis has woefully underfunded its infrastructure needs,” Ballard said.

The city might let companies or everyday citizens do more than just adopt highways. It might offer to sell naming rights for sewer caps and/or sidewalks.

Ballard scheduled meetings to address the infrastructure funding issue, which seems to be far beyond what taxpayers would be willing to pay for.

City streets, sidewalks and sewers are crumbling far faster than the city can afford to keep pace with, and officials want public input as they weigh their next move.

“As long as it’s not too wacky, as long as it’s not too far out of the box and really hurts the character of the city, we’ve got to look at it,” Ballard said.

Some cities, such as Louisville, have gone so far as allowing KFC to brand potholes and help pay for repairs.

Tuesday night’s meeting on the subject was short on solutions and long on problems, Hightower reported.

“East Washington Street is not congruent with our values of pedestrian friendly,” said resident Tracy DeMartinez. “We would like you to spend your money wisely.”

“You have nobody from these committees working with you,” said resident Amy Harwell. “So, you really don’t know what’s happening.”

Design engineer Bob Bullware offered a different solution—using 50 percent fresh water in homes and utilizing more greywater, which he said could cut sewage demand in half.

“There are some systems and technology out there that ,using greywater, recycling lavatories, shower, everything but the kitchen and the toilet waste, that recycles it back into flushing the john,” Bullware said.

Ballard said ideas for sponsorships, partnerships and privatization are endless, but he’s not sure if anyone would be willing to fix a crumbling curb so they can put a corporate logo next to it.

The Environmental Protection Agency mandated that the city spend $1.7 billion to fix the sewer system by 2025, which could quadruple consumers’ sewage bills if alternative solutions aren’t found.

Ballard said every legitimate cost-cutting idea will be considered, because the money budgeted for infrastructure repair is nowhere near enough to meet demand.

Indianapolis currently needs about $4 billion to cover its needs, but about $20 million was dedicated to repairs in the 2010 budget, up a bit from the 2009 budget.

It wasn’t that long ago that the field of play in baseball was free from any kind of advertising.

Then a team strategically placed an ad behind first base, allowing it to come in full view over the pitcher’s shoulder on television. Soon after, all bets were off, and you had sign boards behind the plate and ads on the outfield walls, even walls that are mostly covered with ivy. The pristine playing field no longer is pristine.

Well, the same thing could be happening with uniforms in the NFL.

You’ve probably noticed that the Bears’ practice jerseys in training camp sport the logo for NorthShore University HealthSystem. The hospital group is getting huge exposure for the placement. On consecutive days last week, the A-1 front of the Chicago Tribune had close-up shots of Brian Urlacher and Jay Cutler that had the NorthShore logo almost jumping off the page.

Chris Hibbs, the Bears’ senior director of sales and marketing, wouldn’t disclose how much NorthShore is paying the Bears, but safe to say it has to be significant seven figures.

This is the first time the Bears have allowed a company logo on their practice jersey; you’ll see it throughout their weekly practice sessions during the season, too.

“This was done at the behest of the marketing guys,” Mr. Hibbs said. “We went to the league and said, ‘Let’s do something more creative, more out of the box.’ “

Not sure if this qualifies as out-of-the box as much as a natural evolution of where marketing is going as it relates to uniforms. In Europe, soccer teams all sport corporate logos on their jerseys. Chicago-based Aon Corp. reportedly will pay Manchester United $32 million per year to have its three letters on the front of the famed soccer team’s jerseys.

Imagine what the Bears could pull in from a company to place its logo on a game-day jersey? How much for the Cubs?

For now, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league has no plans to place corporate advertising on game jerseys. Currently, all you see is the logo for Reebok, which pays huge money to be the producers of the official NFL jerseys.

“The challenge is to maintain the brand equity of the NFL while finding new ways to engage sponsors,” Mr. Hibbs said. “There’s the feeling that practice jerseys and game jerseys are different things.”

Yes, but aren’t we seeing the crack in the door here? Could this be the first step to Miller Lite being the proud jersey sponsor of the Green Bay Packers?

“That’s a good question,” Mr. Hibbs said. “If you look at Wrigley Field, it was clean a few years ago. Now you have Under Armour ads on the outfield wall and (sign board behind the plate). The NFL has worked hard to keep gross commercialization far away from the game field. Putting company logos on the game jerseys would be a major departure. But a decade from now, who knows what’s going to happen? You’ve got to pay salaries, you’ve got to generate revenue for increased expenses.”

I think the NorthShore logo on the practice jersey is the precursor to what’s coming down the road. Teams won’t be able to ignore the millions that will be there for product placement on the linebacker’s right shoulder, just over the number.

It might be another 10 years, but when the time comes, perhaps Aon might be ready to put its three letters on a Bears jersey. After all, it is a local company, and it will be used to paying the big bucks. 

Imagine advertisements on potholes.

Louisville, Ky., is doing it. An agreement between that city and hometown KFC Corp. has the fast food chain paying to fill potholes on Louisville streets. The cost to the city: Allow the message “Refreshed by KFC” to be stenciled in chalk on nearby pavement.

The deal has other cities exploring similar partnerships to make money for repairs and services without raising taxes. That includes a recent arrangement between Indianapolis and a marketing company, called Third Street Partners, to explore marketing agreements, sponsorships and naming rights.

What about something similar for Greater Lafayette? Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski and West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis expressed concerns about private companies funding annual operating costs, such as filling potholes and other ongoing city services.

But they remained open to other public-private partnerships, especially when they involve one-time costs of buying equipment or building structures.

“I’m always open minded, but I think you have to be cautious of people funding operational expenses reoccurring year after year,” Roswarski said.

Roswarski said his concern would be if the company paying to fill potholes went out of business or pulled back on the deal, it would leave the city scrambling to find money to get the job done.

Jane Boswell, one of the founding members of the Ninth Street Hill Neighborhood Association, said her neighborhood already is cluttered with signs. More signs and advertisements, she said, should not be the aim.

“It could become like visual litter,” Boswell said. “We already have enough signs.”

Lafayette and West Lafayette isn’t above corporate sponsorships to get projects done. In Lafayette, businesses have paid for large portions of renovations to Columbian Park in exchange for naming rights to animal exhibits or playgrounds. West Lafayette police officers have had bulletproof vests paid for with financial donations from Wal-Mart.

But Dennis said he doesn’t think it would be in the best interest of West Lafayette to start putting advertisements from companies around town.

However, the idea of the city trying to find alternative sources of revenue is “worthy of discussion,” Dennis said.

In Indianapolis, nothing has happened yet along the lines of the KFC-sponsored pothole work being done in Louisville. No advertisers have signed up and no money has been exchanged.

But the ideas are rolling in.

Third Street has suggested partnering with an insurer to underwrite part of the cost of salting the city’s streets in the winter, or finding a cleaning-products company to sponsor street-cleaning and graffiti-removal efforts.

Halfway through Univision’s top-rated variety show, Sábado Gigante, host Don Francisco yells out: ``Vamos a cantarle a State Farm! Música, maestro!’’—``Let’s sing to State Farm!’’

The audience swings into a snappy rendition of a song that praises State Farm Insurance—part of the company’s marketing strategy that is pumping more dollars into Hispanic marketing than ever before.

An increasing number of advertisers, especially consumer-product companies and financial-services firms, are reaching out to U.S. Hispanics and putting a larger share of their ad budgets into Spanish-language media and community-event sponsorships.

Earlier this month, video-game publisher Sega announced its biggest Hispanic marketing campaign with the launch of its latest Wii title, Daisy Fuentes Pilates. Kellogg is adding ``a touch of honey’’ to its Corn Flakes cereal to court Hispanic consumers who prefer honey as a natural sweetener. Fifth Third Bank, based in Cincinnati, is expanding its reach to Hispanics in seven markets—including four in Florida: Orlando, Tampa, Naples and Fort Myers—with radio, print and online ads. The bank is also sponsoring local workshops to help consumers with their finances during the recession.

More than $5 billion was aimed at the Hispanic market in 2008, according to TNS Market Intelligence, an advertising market research firm.

The amount was down slightly (.08 percent) from the 2007 figure—far less than the 4 percent drop in overall marketing spending, from $126.7 billion in 2007 to $121.8 billion in 2008.

As for State Farm, the Bloomington, Ill., company is spending more money to reach U.S. Hispanics this year than it did in 2008, says Mark Gibson, assistant vice president for advertising for State Farm.

DEEPER RELATIONSHIP

State Farm, regularly among the top 10 marketers to Latinos, spent nearly $58 million in advertising in Spanish-language TV, magazines and newspapers in 2008, doubling what it had spent in the prior year, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

Though the insurer has marketed to Hispanics for the past decade, it accelerated its efforts three years ago when it began to sponsor Sábado Gigante. Last year, it added the Fiesta del Jonrón (a traveling home-run derby and Hispanic baseball hall of fame) and added the Latin Billboard sponsorship. State Farm agents sponsor bike-safety fairs and local baseball and soccer teams.

This year’s increased dollars will go toward traditional TV, print, online and radio advertising as well as event and sponsorship marketing.

``Consumers are savvy today. They understand when they are being advertised to,’’ says Gibson.

``But you can take a relationship deeper when you can connect with consumers in ways they don’t necessarily expect.’’

NOVELAS

Indeed, for a new twist on the insurer’s marketing and brand integration, a new online novela will premiere on Univision.com Wednesday, featuring a State Farm agent as one of the characters. The insurer is also a new sponsor for Telemundo’s prime-time novela, Más Sabe el Diablo, where a supporting character will also be a State Farm agent.

Such investment comes despite the withering recession that has hit Hispanics especially hard. Unemployment among U.S. Hispanics is higher than that in the overall population, measuring in at 12.2 percent in June compared to 9.5 percent for the total labor force.

Many Hispanics are employed by industries wrecked by the downturn, including construction, manufacturing, autos, retailing and hospitality, note economists. For instance, the Pew Hispanic Center, a research initiative funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts based in Washington, D.C., said Hispanic workers lost 156,000 construction jobs and 65,000 service jobs in the 12 months ending Oct. 2008.

BUYING POWER

But the number of Hispanics and their marketing clout continue to rise—and that keeps advertisers interested and invested.

According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, the share of buying power controlled by Hispanic consumers will grow to 10 percent, or $1.4 trillion, of the U.S. total by 2013. That puts Hispanics ahead of all other minority groups, including African Americans.

And while the recession has slowed immigration, economists remain confident that Hispanics will comprise the largest minority share of the U.S. population in the next four years—16.6 percent.

``The long-term view is still very positive if you look beyond the next year,’’ said Manuel Lasaga, head of Strategic Information Analysis Inc., a finance and economics consulting firm in Coral Gables.

``Product companies don’t want to pull out because they already have money invested in this market.’’

`TIPPING POINT’

Hispanics’ shopping habits also make them appealing to advertisers: They are more frequent shoppers than non-Hispanics and are more willing to buy from advertisers than non-Hispanics, according to a survey released in June by Experian Simmons and Univision Communications.

All this plays into the hands of Spanish-language media.

``There’s been a new listening to our story,’’ says David Lawenda, president for advertising and sales at Univision. ``We’re at the tipping point in 2009 where it is now a business imperative to market to Hispanics in the language of their hearts.’’

`UNTAPPED WAYS’

Lawenda has spent the past year preaching to consumer-product companies about opportunities in the Hispanic market. ``Everyone is looking for untapped ways to grow their business and there are few very places to look and we’re one of them.’’

The network has seen new interest from quick-service and casual-dining restaurants, household goods and beverage manufacturers, and financial-services companies. New advertisers will show up on Univision soon, he said—but wouldn’t name them because contracts haven’t been finalized.

EVENTS

Likewise, sponsorships for Hispanic events are experiencing an uptick.

While the total amount of overall advertising dollars committed to event marketing is down this year, interest remains strong because events can be finely tuned to reach specific groups within the Hispanic market, says Nelson Albareda, chief executive officer of Eventus Marketing in Miami.

For instance, a street festival in Miami would feature more tropical salsa or urban music. In Los Angeles, regional Mexican music with stars like Jenni Rivera would be the highlight.

``These events are something you’re going to remember for a while. Who knows if you’re going to see our ad on TV,’’ Sanchez said. ``We want to be where the consumer is.’’

AN EXAMPLE

Case in point: Two weeks ago, Denise Gonzalez, a rising Latin pop star, was signing autographs inside a green inflatable tent that had oversized daisies and was crowned with a 7UP can. The scene was a parking lot of a Winn-Dixie supermarket in Miami—part of an effort to reach young Hispanic mothers. Gonzalez is the spokeswoman for 7UP’s new ``Sevenísima’’ campaign. She sings a song especially written for the new marketing push in the TV commercials.

Consumers like Isabel Del Cid walked away from the 7UP tent with cans of soda, bright green T-shirts and hats, daisy-shaped key chains and car air fresheners.

``It’s already my favorite soft drink, so I was glad to get the samples,’’ she said.

``7UP is still using traditional TV and print advertising,’’ said Rene Sanchez, who handles 7UP marketing for the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. But events like this ``touch the consumer directly.’’

It is becoming commonplace to hear about kids suffering from diabetes, even high blood pressure. Media is a likely culprit. Irresponsible advertising is equally culpable.

One would wish that the following scenario happening in many parts of the world would also be true in the Philippines.

There is a growing number of broadcasting companies, children’s program producers and governments worldwide who have begun taking a serious look at TV ads that peddle junk and which air during hours traditionally assigned for kiddie programs.

Furthermore, the movement is beginning to confront a vast number of TV shows that slyly use cartoon characters and mascots, a technique that blurs the line between the commercial advertising and the shows themselves. It is common knowledge that children, especially those in tender years up to nine, are unable to differentiate fantasy from reality and are too vulnerable and unprepared to become smart consumers.

If the movement hits the Philippines, expect a hue and cry against such seemingly patently innocuous programs like “Bi and Bo’’ as well as “Jollitown,’’ two colorful shows targeting little children but sponsored by well-known food companies.

SHOW SAYS ‘NO JUNK FOOD’

Among the more recent radical developments

include that of Discovery Kids which has started to insist on a no junk food ad policy in its South American stations. Discovery Channel’s younger network also airs in Asia and countless kids from Bahrain to Bangladesh, Pakistan to the Philippines tune in to it.

Even the revered Sesame Street has toned down its popular Cookie Monster song. The line, “C is for Cookie” has been replaced with “A Cookie is a Sometimes Food. “

There is increasing debate about the morals of junk food advertising during children’s shows, and we await with bated breath when the long delayed movement would finally reach Philippine shores.

What is particularly alarming is not so much the volume and increasing frequency of junk food ads on television but that authorities expected to take up the cudgels for the parents like DepEd, DOH or even BFAD have not convinced fastfood companies and food manufacturers to consider coming up with alternative and healthier foods targeting Pinoy kids. While America is offering downsized or more dietary correct menus, our fastfood chains are going the wrong direction, pushing for upsizing beverages, fried items and others.

In Dubai not too long ago, its national press club staged a seminar to discuss the role of media in fighting obesity among UAE children. The UAE ministry of health was part of the effort and so was UNICEF. They all succeeded in enlightening the attendees on the various hazards and psychological impact of obesity among kids, first by removing many deep-seated misconceptions, among them chubbiness being an indicator of good health. No less than the UAE government led by its ruler lent its imprimatur on the seminar so that the Arab society can finally sensitize itself about obesity in children.

The consequential move in UAE now is to regulate TV ads targeted at kids and to enlarge the scope of regulatory mechanisms which only previously included tobacco and alcohol.

In the end, the UAE seminar concluded that “the media have a big role in sensitizing the society on the perils of obesity among the tiny ones. It is a mission too important to be left to some organizations and government bodies alone.”

For all the concern and uproar over online privacy, marketers and data companies have always known much more about consumers’ offline lives, like income, credit score, home ownership, even what car they drive and whether they have a hunting license. Recently, some of these companies have started connecting this mountain of information to consumers’ browsers.

The result is a sea change in the way consumers encounter the Web. Not only will people see customized advertising, they will see different versions of Web sites from other consumers and even receive different discount offers while shopping — all based on information from their offline history. Two women in adjoining offices could go to the same cosmetic site, but one might see a $300 Missoni perfume, the other the house-brand lipstick on sale for $2.

But consumer advocates say such unseen tracking is troubling. On the old Internet, nobody knew you were a dog. On the new targeted Internet, they now know what kind of dog you are, your favorite leash color, the last time you had fleas and the date you were neutered.

Read the full article here.