Issues at the supermarket checkout

Standing in line at the supermarket checkout makes customers a captive audience for junk food marketing. Checkout displays are designed to encourage impulse buying, and are at the perfect height to grab your child’s attention.

Junk food at the checkout:

• puts temptation within easy reach
• provokes embarrassing nagging and temper tantrums
• attracts unhealthy impulse purchases
• encourages the consumption of empty calories
• promotes increased incidence of dental decay

What The Parents' Jury are calling for

We want unhealthy food at checkouts to be reduced by 50% and the removal of all unhealthy food from the immediate vicinity.

Large Budgets and Clever Marketing

Multinational confectionery and snack food companies have enormous budgets, and spend a lot of money researching what appeals to their target markets. Confectionery displays at checkouts are designed with young children in mind. Products and packaging that appeal to young children are strategically positioned lower down on the checkout display – in line of sight and within easy reach.

Pester Power Equals More Sales

Pester power is a marketing term used to describe the nagging by children when they persistently ask a parent or guardian to purchase something for them. Pester power really works.

Confectionery and snack food companies use many different tactics to generate pester power in children:

• positioning
• appealing and colourful packaging
• cartoon characters
• toy giveaways
• movie and entertainment tie-ins
• celebrity endorsement