Predatory Marketing Prevention Act passes NYS Senate Agriculture Committee, one step closer to protecting kids

Today, the New York State Senate Agriculture Committee took an important step toward safeguarding children’s health by passing the Predatory Marketing Prevention Act (S213B), sponsored by State Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember Karines Reyes. It now heads to the Consumer Protection committee. The bill seeks to limit manipulative  marketing tactics that expose children and adolescents to misleading marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages.

CSPI Senior Policy Associate Dr. DeAnna Nara issued the following statement:

“The Center for Science in the Public Interest commends the New York State Senate Agriculture Committee for advancing the Predatory Marketing Prevention Act (PMPA), a crucial measure to protect children and adolescents from harmful and misleading food and beverage marketing practices. As digital advertising grows more sophisticated, food and beverage companies increasingly rely on data-driven behavioral targeting, influencer promotions, and interactive content to encourage overconsumption of ultra-processed products.

Research shows that children and adolescents are uniquely vulnerable to marketing tactics designed to shape their food choices and consumption habits. These strategies bypass parental oversight, exploit gaps in advertising regulations, and create environments where unhealthy products are constantly promoted.

With the full New York State Senate vote pending, we urge lawmakers to swiftly advance this bill and position New York as a leader in public health policy. By restricting predatory food marketing, New York has the opportunity to set a national precedent for protecting young people from manipulative advertising that reinforces harmful consumption patterns and undermines efforts to promote lifelong health.”

Food marketing disproportionately affects children, leading to increased consumption of nutrient-poor, calorie-dense foods and beverages. Digital platforms have supercharged the ability of food and beverage companies to aggressively promote unhealthy products, shaping children’s food preferences, normalizing poor dietary habits, and bypassing parental oversight. By defining and restricting these marketing practices, the PMPA ensures that youth are not unfairly influenced by tactics designed to maximize corporate profits at the expense of public health.

The Predatory Marketing Prevention Act aka PMPA (S213B): Strengthens existing consumer protections by explicitly defining and restricting misleading targeted marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children and adolescents. The legislation builds on New York’s existing false advertising laws, ensuring that youth are not unfairly manipulated into consuming ultra-processed products that negatively impact long-term health.

Why Food Marketing Needs Reform:

• Influence on Consumer Behavior: Through marketing, the food industry exerts a heavy influence on how and where people make their food-purchasing decisions. For young people, fast-food advertising and processed food marketing may be particularly exploitative, steering their food preferences through early exposure and swaying their parents and caregivers’ food purchases.
• Bloated Budgets for Predatory Marketing: According to the Federal Trade Commission, food companies spent nearly $2 billion marketing to youth in 2009 (the last year for which data are available). In 2019, fast-food restaurants spent $5 billion in total advertising, an increase of over $400 million (9%) vs. 2012. Notably, communities of color are disproportionately targeted; Black children see 75% more fast food ads than their white peers.
• Chronic Disease Risk: According to a 2024 report by Healthy Eating Research, digital food marketing disproportionately affects children, leading to increased consumption of nutrient-poor, calorie-dense foods and beverages linked to preventable health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. 

Contact Info:  Becky Stern, 516-581-5707