Child 'mini-marketeers' paid by junk food firms to secretly push products among their friends

A website is offering young people money to promote products via social networking sites and among friends

Children are being paid up to £25 a week to promote sugary soft drinks and other products through social networking sites and playground chat.

Products including Fanta and Cheestrings are at the centre of stealth marketing campaigns.

Firms are turning to the controversial tactics after moves to crack down on TV advertising of unhealthy products.

The Dubit website, set up by a British entrepreneur, recruits thousands of children from seven upwards to take part in surveys that are used by big business to shape products and policy.

Now it is trying to get the youngsters to promote brands to their friends in return for money-off vouchers, which can be worth £25 a week, and free samples.

Children and teens are recruited as 'brand ambassadors' by the site. This involves performing a range of tasks including putting up flyers, posting on message boards and social networks such as Facebook and Bebo and hosting parties for friends.

The website boasts: 'Dubit believes you are the best people to promote brands, products and services - not celebrity-endorsed television ads! Dubit Insider lets young people aged 7 - 24 do exactly this by actively shaping the way campaigns are run.

'By becoming part of the UK's largest youth panel you will work with some of the UK's top brands.'

The website says members can 'earn yourself a little cash, as well as a few freebies along the way'.

It even suggests that youngsters who sign up can use their membership to enhance their CV or university application forms.



The Dubit website targets young people to promote brands including soft drinks and MP3 players

The company insists there are safeguards to prevent exploitation. Anyone under 16 has to get their parents' permission, which is checked by a member of the Dubit team.

Children under 12 are urged not to promote products or brands online - except to friends.

Parents may well feel it is safe to support Dubit's activities, given that it has the endorsement of the Government's Food Standards Agency.

Just last week, the FSA said it would be using the company's access to youngsters to pass on messages about the importance of a good diet.

A marketing agency is using teens to promote artists such as Lady Gaga and Alexandra Burke



This followed disturbing research showing that many teen girls and boys are being starved of key nutrients. They were consuming too much junk, such as sugary soft drinks and snack foods, and more than a third were overweight.

Among the brands using Dubit to promote their products to youngsters are Fanta, which is part of Coca-Cola, and Cheestrings, which have been criticised for being relatively high in saturated fat and salt.

Sprite, Dr Pepper and a Barbie-themed MP3 player are also part of the promotional push.

Record labels are using the same marketing technique.

Sales drive: Dr Pepper and Barbie MP3 players are part of the promotional push



The marketing agency in4merz.com uses a network of 10,000 members, aged 11-21, to promote pop artists including Lady Gaga, Jonas Brothers, Alexandra Burke, Sugababes and Pixie Lott on behalf of record labels.

The company claims to be signing up as many as 100 children a day. Members are rewarded with points for their promotional activities, which can be exchanged for music-related gifts.

Ed Mayo, co-author of Consumer Kids, a book on marketing to children, is highly critical of the way big business is targeting youngsters through the internet.

He said: 'About 85 per cent of children's favourite websites collect some sort of personal information,

'Companies are not just stalking kids online, they are recruiting them to fight in the battle for brand domination and market share.

'Close on half a million young people in the UK alone have been enlisted by big youth brands, and that's the figure from just one recruitment agency.

'Kids are regularly signed up through the internet to be "insiders", "informers" and "lifestyle representatives" for big corporations.'

A spokesman for Coca-Cola said brand ambassadors recruited through Dubit were over 16 and were told to make it clear they were being paid to promote the company's brands.

A spokesman for Kerry Foods said its campaign to promote Cheestrings was a trial.

Dubit was founded by Adam Hildreth, 24, who came up with the idea at the age of 14 and left school at 16 to run it. He is said to be worth £12million.

The firm said of his recruits: 'They must make people aware they are involved in a project if talking about a product or brand. Anyone under the age of 16 must have explicit verbal parental consent to take part.'