Coca-Cola has been forced to pull parts of a marketing campaign after it was found to be advertising a product to children.

The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) found a TV ad and tablet application in the latest campaign for soft drink Fanta were directed at children, which is a breach of industry guidelines designed to fight obesity.

The Fanta Tastes Like campaign featured an animated Fanta Crew who engaged in activities in the app like catching fruit, riding roller coasters and landing in a pool filled with bubbles.

Coca-Cola said the campaign was aimed at teenagers aged 15 to 17 and the animated characters were depicted as teens.

In the TV advertisement characters liken Fanta to an "awesome ride", a "bubble explosion" and "busting out to my favourite beats".

The board found some of the TV ad and app elements of the campaign were "primarily" directed at children, which breached guidelines to which it was a signatory.

It found children would aspire to be like the teenagers and things like riding on a roller coaster and landing in a pool of bubbles were things children would enjoy.

However, it ruled the company did not break rules on its website where text added more context.

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'Blatant attempt to appeal to children'

The Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) lodged the complaint with the board.

The coalition is a group of public health agencies concerned about obesity, particularly in children, and members include the Cancer Council.

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OPC executive manager Jane Martin said the campaign was a "blatant" attempt to appeal to children and the decision highlighted the problem with self-regulation.

"There is no independent governing body to enforce the code and other regulations and no meaningful sanctions for breaches, leaving the health of Australian children in the hands of big food," she said.

In its complaint the OPC said the animated campaign would appeal to "children's sense of playfulness".

Members were particularly upset the app depicted a Fanta bottle filled with oranges, which they said suggested it was a fruit drink.

Soft drink stats Up to 14 teaspoons of sugar in 450mL bottle of Fanta.

Up to 14 teaspoons of sugar in 450mL bottle of Fanta. One in four children are overweight or obese.

One in four children are overweight or obese. Sugar sweetened drinks are the largest source of sugar in the Australian diet.

They said the app's games were also very basic and designed for children, and the board agreed.

Coca-Cola South Pacific said the app was created and published in its US headquarters and was not for sale in the children's section.

It said its animation was not drawn in a style similar to children's programs and there were adult animations.

"The [Fanta] Crew are intended to be recognisable to teens as representative of the sub-cultures they encounter at high school," they told the board.

The company said the board's decision did not reflect the intention of the campaign.

A company spokeswoman said the decision gave them "valuable feedback".

"We respect and have taken on board the findings of the Advertising Standards Bureau decision, which will allow us to make positive adjustments to the campaign," she said.

"We have a long-standing policy not to direct any marketing activity from any source to children under the age of 12, and have rigorously worked to ensure we meet this commitment."

Despite the decision, the app was still available on Android until today when Coca-Cola removed it from the store.

Campaigners have called for Coca-Cola to scrap the campaign entirely.

Prime time TV not for kids

The ASB was also asked to consider whether Coca-Cola breached rules by placing its Fanta advertisements during prime time programs such as My Kitchen Rules and I'm a Celebrity ... Get me out of here.

Coca-Cola argued that while these shows may be watched by children they were not children's television.

They said children's television was where more than 35 per cent of the audience were under age 12.

The bureau agreed and said the company did not break the rules by advertising during such prime time slots.

"The programming in which the advertisement appeared was not directed primarily to children — although undoubtedly a significant number of children may view some of the programmes," it stated in its decision.

The OPC said during March this year the two programs were watched by the largest numbers of children under age 12.

Ms Martin said it was important to reduce children's' exposure to junk food marketing.

"My Kitchen Rules, The Voice — all those programs — they're full of junk food marketing because that's how you reach kids," she said.