Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative

The Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) was created to improve the landscape of food advertising to children under age 12. Under CFBAI, participants voluntarily commit that, in advertising primarily directed to children, they will either not advertise foods or beverages to children at all or advertise only products that meet CFBAI’s strict Uniform Nutrition Criteria. Participants also do not advertise in elementary schools.

CFBAI CCAI

Program Impact

Nineteen leading food, beverage, and quick-service restaurants participate in CFBAI by developing individual pledges that set out how the company will meet the requirements of CFBAI’s Core Principles. Since CFBAI began in 2007, participants have reduced nutrients to limit, like added sugars or sodium, and added more food groups or important nutrients like calcium and Vitamin D in foods advertised to children. Some participants no longer advertise to children.

Broad Industry Representation

CFBAI’s 19 participants represent the majority of child-directed food advertising expenditures in the United States and most of the food advertising on children’s TV programming.

Extensive Media Coverage

The Core Principles cover child-directed advertising on TV, digital and mobile media (websites, video and computer games, apps, YouTube, product placements and integrations, and influencers), radio, print, and word of mouth.

Strict Uniform Nutrition Criteria

Foods advertised to children by CFBAI participants must meet CFBAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria, which set limits on calories, saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars, and minimum requirements for important food groups and key nutrients.

Strong Compliance Oversight

CFBAI monitors and evaluates the participants’ compliance with their pledge commitments, and companies also submit annual self-assessments. CFBAI publishes an annual report on compliance and progress.

Core Principles

CFBAI’s Core Principles set requirements regarding media coverage and nutrition criteria for food advertising to children under 12. CFBAI has evolved over the years to respond to changes in the children’s advertising landscape. The most recent enhancements to the Core Principles more strictly define what constitutes a child-directed audience, formally expand digital media coverage to cover platforms like YouTube and influencer communications, and incorporate the Uniform Nutrition Criteria, 2^nd ed. These updates are in effect as of January 1, 2021.

CFBAI Core Principles

CFBAI Participant Pledges and Qualifying Foods

Uniform Nutrition Criteria

White Paper on CFBAI Uniform Nutrition Criteria

News & Blog

Press Release

18 Leading Food, Beverage, and Restaurant Companies Adopt Revised, Stronger Uniform Nutrition Criteria for Foods Advertised to Children

The 18 companies that participate in the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) have agreed to strengthen the Category-Specific Uniform Nutrition Criteria that apply to foods advertised to children. CFBAI announced that all of its participants -- leading U.S. food and beverage and...

Press Release

Keurig Dr Pepper Joins CFBAI

Arlington, VA – Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) is pleased to welcome Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) as the newest program participant. Earlier this year, KDP agreed to advertise only foods that comply with CFBAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria in advertising directed to children under age 12. KDP’s CFBAI pledge went into effect in July 2019.

Blog

Companies Agree to Strengthen their Children’s Advertising Commitments with CFBAI’s Updated Core Principles

The nation’s 19 leading food, beverage, and quick service restaurant companies today have agreed to strengthen their voluntary commitments for responsible food marketing to children with the adoption of the BBB National Programs Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) 2021 Core Principles.

Blog

CFBAI reports excellent compliance by CFBAI and CCAI participants in 2018

CFBAI’s Report on Compliance and Progress During 2018 finds that all 18 CFBAI companies achieved full compliance with their commitments to advertise to children under age 12 only foods that meet CFBAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria or to not engage in advertising to children. The nine confection companies that participated in CCAI, a program modeled on CFBAI for small and medium-sized confection companies, also met their program commitments.

CARU Conference: Virtual Series

Keynote- Thinking Outside the Blocks with LEGO: Get an inside look into how LEGO meets its marketing goals by thinking outside of the box. Learn how LEGO forges its own path in order to maintain compl ...

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Oct 20, 2020 Virtual

CARU Kidvertising 101 - New York

Oct. 23, 2020: CARU Kidvertising 101 is a half-day seminar designed by the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) to share best practices and actionable guidance on "kidvertising" and kids' privacy ...

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Oct 23, 2020 New York

Resources

CFBAI Participants

Each participant develops an individual pledge that sets out how it will comply with CFBAI’s Core Principles. Only foods that meet CFBAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria, 2^nd ed. may be advertised to children. If participants intend to advertise to children, they must identify those foods and provide the relevant nutrition information to the program administrator prior to advertising.

CFBAI revised its Core Principles in May 2020. CFBAI participants are updating their company-specific pledges to reflect the Core Principles which CFBAI will post when final.

Twice a year, CFBAI posts a list of qualifying products that participants have indicated they may advertise to children. To access the most recent list of qualifying products, click here.