VEVEY, Switzerland – Nestlé announced today that it will further strengthen its industry-leading responsible marketing practices, as part of its efforts to help bring balanced diets within reach for people around the world.
The company will voluntarily restrict its marketing to kids under the age of 16, while at the same time continuing its long-standing efforts to help families establish healthy eating and lifestyle habits.
The company’s new Marketing Communication to Children policy will prohibit direct advertising of confectionery and ice-cream as well as water-based beverages with added sugars to children below 16 years of age.
The policy reaffirms the ban on product marketing communication targeting children between 0 and 6 years of age, as per previous versions.
This standard will be applied to TV and online platforms, including social media and gaming ones with greater than 25% of their audience under 16 years old. Additionally, Nestlé will not collect data of minors and only partner with social media influencers over the age of 18.
The new policy will take effect as of July 1 st, 2023 and will be applied globally. Nestlé is one of the first food and beverage companies to voluntarily adopt such strict standards.
Nestlé is externally recognized for its industry-leading responsible marketing practices by the Access to Nutrition Index and calls for more companies to put forward similar measures that support the wellbeing of children.
Coupling existing nutrition services, educational tools and recipes with these additional safeguards helps give children and young adolescents a solid foundation for building a healthy lifestyle.
Through our Nestlé for Healthier Kids program and various nutrition campaigns such as “adopt a fruit, adopt a vegetable”, #cooktogether and “healthy food for the future”, we have made over 80 million children more knowledgeable about good nutrition, balanced diets and healthy lifestyles since 2016.
