Digital Marketing Under Attack

The convergence of media and technology continues to change the way we communicate, consume media and engage in commercial transactions. Marketers have been among the greatest digital media innovators and the medium has evolved as largely advertiser supported. That business model is under attack by consumer groups that argue that marketers are unfairly invading consumers' privacy and confusing consumers as to the nature and origin of commercial messages. In Fall 2011, for example, consumer advocates filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over PepsiCo's online promotion of Doritos. The complainants want greater restraints and obligations on marketers, particularly those that target teens and young adults with interactive and new media. In the Matter of Complaint and Request for Investigation of PepsiCo's and Frito-Lay's Deceptive Practices in Marketing Doritos to Adolescents. (A PDF of the complaint is available online from Food Politics.com at http://bit.ly/s5u6Hj.)