Procter & Gamble and Cadbury Trebor Bassett are the latest names to sign up to a consortium that already has the backing of Masterfoods, Kellogg, Hasbro and Mattel.
The brands are understood to be contributing around £50,000 each to Media Smart, which is to launch a TV-led campaign educating kids on how to handle advertising.
Aimed at primary school children, aged between six and 11 years, it will also produce a range of teaching and advertising materials to show children the purpose of advertising.
Procter & Gamble, which spends £115m a year on ads, has aimed its Sunny Delight and Pringles ads at kids, while Cadbury, which ploughs £18m into ads, promotes brands such as Creme Eggs and Chocolate Buttons.
The initiative, run by former Mars European marketing head Paul Jackson, has also secured free media space with GMTV and Sky, creative ad services from Burkitt DDB, and the support of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations.
Senior representatives of the member organisations will attend a high-profile launch of the initiative on November 13, attended by Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for culture, media and sport.
The Media Smart initiative, exclusively revealed in Marketing (March 21) originally planned to launch in June, but had problems securing big brand support quickly enough.
Packs will now be distributed to schools in the new year accompanied by a TV 'infomercial' produced by Burkitt DDB.
"We're close to signing up additional advertisers, and broadcasters who will donate further media space," said a Media Smart spokeswoman. She refused to disclose the amounts of money involved.
The Media Smart initiative, which aims to portray members as responsible marketers to kids, was prompted by concerns over EU proposals for an outright ban.
Earlier this year Labour MP Debra Shipley tabled an Early Day Motion for a complete black-out on TV ads aimed at under-fives.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
