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 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

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Program Impact

21 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 21 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. CFBAI has evolved over the years to respond to changes in the children’s advertising landscape. The most recent update was made in May 2022 and revised the advertising coverage of the program from “advertising primarily directed to children under age 12” to “advertising primarily directed to children under age 13.”

CFBAI Core Principles

CFBAI Participant Pledges and Qualifying Foods

Uniform Nutrition Criteria

White Paper on CFBAI Uniform Nutrition Criteria