1. Why has The Coca-Cola Company decided not to market to children under 12 years of age instead of 15 or 16?

The Coca-Cola Company listened to you, parents and caregivers, as well as opinion leaders and other key stakeholders and, based on that input, we concluded that under 12 was the appropriate age for our guidelines.

2. What is different from your current policy? Haven’t you always tried to market your products responsibly?

For more than 50 years, we have had a policy not to advertise full-calorie, sparkling soft drinks on TV programming that targets children under 12. We now will extend this policy to cover all our products and all marketing techniques, meaning there will be no advertising OR marketing of any of our products to children under 12.

The other difference is that the new policy is global. The current policy, while primarily consistent across the company’s global operations, was implemented in different ways depending on local regulations and circumstances.

3. What specifically will The Coca-Cola Company do differently in your marketing and advertising, with this new policy in place?

First, we will not target children under the age of 12 with our advertising on any product of our Company. This means that we will not buy advertising in programs with a profile higher than 50% of children less than 12 years of age. This includes TV, print, radio, Internet or other media like mobile phones.

Second, we will not show children less than 12 years of age drinking any of our products outside of the presence of an adult caregiver. This is important as we believe it reflects the spirit of our policy. When portraying youth enjoying any of our products they will always be and look older than 12 years old.

Third, we will not market our products where parents are not likely to be present and outside of their control, for example, schools. Where products are present in schools, they will be offered in a non-commercial format.

Fourth, we will not target our advertising and promotional materials directly to children under 12. However, according to these guidelines, it is possible that we make parents aware of promotional material (e.g. a polar bear giveaway that might have a broad age appeal) for them to decide if they want to bring it home.

Fifth, we will have a clear process for making decisions when situations arise that are vague or unclear as to how they may impact children. In addition, our policy and our compliance with the policy will be transparent to the outside world, including to stakeholders, parents and general consumers.

4. Yes, but what about cartoon animated advertising, like Happiness Factory and The Coca-Cola Polar Bears?

Cartoon animation has a broad appeal and many advertisers have used animation in targeting adults. It is a universal way of communication that goes beyond age, gender or culture. As said earlier, the important thing is that the commercial messages, especially those that having universal appeal, are not aired in programs with an audience skewed to children younger than 12 years.

5. So, if The Coca-Cola Company is not marketing to children at all, what does this mean for programs like Harry Potter? What about Coca-Cola licensed merchandise such as coloring books and toys? What about vending machines in theme parks, movie theaters or schools?

We will do our best to determine if an advertising commercial has broad appeal vs. targeted appeal. In the case of Harry Potter, it is a broad-appeal property and we will continue our association with this franchise.

Branded merchandise that is designed to exclusively engage children is not permitted: items that have limited age appeal and are highly interactive for children under 12, such as toys, colouring books, and character items. We will continue to offer branded merchandise which has broad age appeal such as polar bears, pencils, notebooks, and balls.

How we promote and display merchandise will be done in compliance with the spirit and the letter of the policy, aimed to attract parents not children. Media chosen to promote our merchandise must meet the media guidelines.

Currently, vending machines in venues of broad age appeal such as theme parks and movie theaters are permitted since children are supervised. Vending machines in schools where children under the age of 12 attend will be restricted and will not feature marketing messages.

6. How will this impact The Coca-Cola Company products and presence in schools?

We are striving for global consistency. We currently have varying policies around the world for primary and middle school distribution and activation. We are moving toward aligning our policies around some common rules: 1. Classrooms are commercial free zones; 2. our availability is non-commercial; 3. where we do have communication, it is focused on educational messages like physical fitness and balanced nutrition; 4. product offerings are at the request of school and local authorities.

7. What about taking children to Coca-Cola factories or The World of Coca-Cola?

For activities such us visits to factories or The World of Coca-Cola, we ask for parent’s or caregiver’s consent. Although these activities can be considered more cultural than commercial, we believe it is prudent to have caregiver consent. Communication of these initiatives will not be subject to this policy as it does not promote any specific product.

8. Children’s beverages: how does this influence beverages The Coca-Cola Company currently offers or are developing for children’s consumption?

The Coca-Cola Company’s portfolio will continue to customize beverages that are specifically designed to meet the needs of children. Children have unique needs, physically and emotionally, which we will continue to address in our portfolio. We will not design our marketing of these beverages to children directly. We will communicate the benefits of our children’s beverages to parents who can introduce them to their family as appropriate.

9. What about children’s beverages that The Coca-Cola Company offers which have children friendly names, graphics, flavors etc.?

While we will not sell our beverages directly to children, we will ensure that when parents select beverages for their children, we offer appropriate brands and packages which children will enjoy. Our children’s beverages include brands like Minute Maid, Kapo, and Qoo. These brands are developed in kid-friendly packages (smaller sizes, easy-to-use, children friendly graphics and names), in flavors that are appealing to children, and often with nutritional fortification appropriate for children’s nutritional needs.

10. What about The Coca-Cola Company’s youth programs? Isn’t this another way of advertising to children?

The Company has a long history of supporting educational programs (lifestyle, environmental) for children. As long as these programs are not aimed at "selling beverages to children," they are permissible under this policy. Going forward, this will include programs linked to Live Positively, Copa Coca-Cola, Triple Play, Little Red School House, etc. We will work with our review committee to ensure they are not commercially oriented.

11. Does this mean that The Coca-Cola Company is now saying that all of your beverages are not suitable for children?

Of course not. For us, this is not a discussion about our beverages. All of our beverages are good and can play a role in a balanced diet for people of all ages. This is a discussion about who is best equipped to make choices for children. We believe that parents and caretakers who are well-informed should make choices about which products and how much can be consumed during a child’s day.

12. Why is The Coca-Cola Company doing this now?

We listen to our consumers and our stakeholders, and one very topical debate is marketing to children and the role that companies have in influencing dietary choices by children.

We believe that children under 12 are not equipped to make dietary choices for themselves. The guiding role of parents and guardians, such as teachers, is paramount and we must do everything we can to respect and support their role.

For these reasons, we believe children under 12 should not be the audience of our advertising and marketing practices. We believe in parents and caregivers making the correct choices for them now, while teaching them how to make informed choices for themselves in the future. We also believe that by providing parents and caregivers with easy-to-access nutritional information both online and on our product labels, as well as providing them with portion control sizes for all occasions, they will be equipped to make the right choices for themselves, their children and their families.

13. Why is The Coca-Cola Company changing the policy now?

Children are exposed to more and more marketing messages every day, and parents and caregivers have told us that they want more control and guidance in their lives. While we have always tried to take a responsible approach to our marketing communications and have had policies aimed at responsible marketing to children for many years, we believe this is the right step to take.

The debate has evolved and has also become more global. Marketing practices have evolved, as well. The time has come for us to evolve our policy accordingly and define it worldwide for greater consistency and adherence.

14. When will this policy be in effect?

We will launch and begin fully implementing our new policy by mid-year 2008, and will ensure that we have reasonable tracking metrics in place. Traditional media channels, such as television, radio, print, Internet and mobile phone advertising will be put into effect immediately. Other areas, such as schools, branded merchandise, product placement and interactive games, especially where parents may not be present to supervise, will take longer to implement, but we will continue to monitor and track our progress.

Need more information? Contact us.