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'Marketing undermines healthy diet'

'Dirty tricks' are being used to target children with junk food advertising and parents may not even be aware it is happening, says consumer rights watchdog Which?. A Which? report published last week, Childcatchers - the tricks used to push unhealthy food to children, found more than 40 different examples of ways food companies market products to children.

A Which? report published last week, Childcatchers - the tricks used to push unhealthy food to children, found more than 40 different examples of ways food companies market products to children.

The group said that while some techniques are obvious, such as TV advertising, there are many more 'underhand' methods. Examples include websites, video games and mobile phones.

The report cites the Neopets website, which includes a game in which children earn points to maintain the health of an online virtual pet by playing a Pepsi World game.

Children are also being targeted through 'text 2 win' competitions, such as one run by Fanta in 2003 to win a mobile phone, the report says.

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