Meet The Agency That Only Advertises to Kids

Canadian agency john st. has released a new campaign to highlight the risk of advertising directly to children under the age of 16.

Famous for its series of spoof films which lampoon the advertising industry, such as ExFEARiential and Reactvertising, the agency has teamed up with charity Heart & Stroke to create 16 and Under, a film about an eponymous, fictional advertising agency dedicated to marketing sugary food and beverages to kids.

The satirical campaign sheds light on the issue that kids are being bombarded with ads from companies eager to capitalise on their growing influence as consumers, and their health is paying for it. Developed in partnership with Heart & Stroke, it’s a campaign to rally public support around a proposed federal legislation to ban food and beverage advertising to kids across Canada.

The online film introduces an agency called 16 and Under, which has the company philosophy of “Big ideas for little humans". In the film, proud employees share some of the agency’s most successful methods, like promoting sugar-laden, addictive products that “pretty much sell themselves,” targeting kids whose “brains aren’t fully developed yet,” and using tactics like hyper-personalised targeting to get “a customer for life".

The campaign is supported by OOH, social, and pre-roll—all driving to the campaign microsite, where Canadians can learn more about the problem and take action.