WASHINGTON — Visit YouTube Kids and it typically does not take long before promotions for junk food appear. The advertisements regularly appear in the form of funny contests and animated stories.
In complaints filed to federal officials Tuesday, two prominent consumer-advocacy groups argued that those ads are deceptive, particularly for children. The two complaints, made to the Federal Trade Commission, expand on filings the groups made to the FTC in April and could increase pressure on federal officials to intervene in the fast-growing online video market.
The groups, the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy, argue in the complaints that online video aimed at children has become too commercialized and is not held to the same standards as cable and broadcast TV. They want an investigation of food marketers, video programmers and Google, which owns YouTube, as well as a broad examination of advertising of such food to children online.
“You have digital natives consuming content simultaneously with the growth of powerful marketing at children at the earliest ages,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “The agencies are lagging and the companies are emboldened.”
Google introduced YouTube Kids in February as a mobile app “built from the ground up with little ones in mind,” according to a blog post by the company. The app is geared for children of preschool age and older.
After downloading the app on a mobile device, parents are guided on how to set safety features, like the option to block searching.
The videos on the platform are curated from the main YouTube site through algorithms set to pick child-related content.
In Tuesday’s complaint, the groups argued that more than a dozen food companies have fallen short of their promises not to market junk food to children on YouTube Kids. The groups say brands like Burger King, Coca-Cola, ConAgra Foods and American Licorice have commercials on the app for products like potato chips and chocolate bars.
While the groups point a finger at marketers, they also criticize YouTube for not enforcing its own policies. YouTube restricts paid ads of food and beverages on its children’s app, but the groups say they found numerous examples of food companies using their own branded channels to show promotional videos. The groups asked for an investigation into uploaded TV commercials from unknown YouTube Kids accounts to see if there were connections between the food companies and those channels.
The FTC has been reviewing the April complaint. Any investigation of the previous complaint and the new filings would not be public, said Jessica Rich, director of the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Burger King, Coca-Cola and American Licorice did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. A ConAgra representative said the company was aware of the groups’ concern and was looking into the matter.
For children’s television programming, there are clear rules that limit the length of commercials, as well as restrictions on product placement and on the promotion of products by TV hosts and characters.
The Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a coalition of food companies formed in 2006, promised not to advertise any products that did not meet certain nutritional standards to children under 12 on TV or online.
The advertisers group said it had complied with its commitments. The organization said the companies did not place food ads on YouTube Kids, but it had seen how their ads could appear via the search function. The group said it had asked Google to find a technology fix to prevent the ads from appearing there.
The online video market has exploded in recent years, and children have become a lucrative demographic for streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.
YouTube said last week that the app had been downloaded more than 10 million times and had received strong ratings in app stores. YouTube said Tuesday it had not seen the complaints.