Game is 'one big advertisement'

Reporter·Herald on Sunday·

8 Nov, 2014 04:00 PM3 mins to read

In the Logo Board Game, players are quizzed on almost 200 well-known Kiwi brands. Photo / Doug Sherring

Kiwi Logo board game slammed as promotional tool

Some of the country's biggest brands have found a new way to hammer their corporate message home - a board game aimed at young families.

The Logo Board Game is a Trivial Pursuit-style game, marketed at Kiwis aged 12 and up, in which players are quizzed on almost 200 well-known Kiwi brands. But health advocates have hit out at the inclusion of brands such as Trumpet, V, Milkybar and Jelly Tip.

New Zealand Nutrition Foundation dietitian Sarah Hanrahan said the game should include more "total diet" foods like grainy breads and fruit. "It's a lost opportunity because games are a good way to educate children."

University of Otago Wellington health promotion and policy research unit research fellow Moira Smith, who is writing her PhD thesis on the sports-related food environment and its effect on children, thought the game was "horrible".

"It's one big advertisement."

Her research matched other findings that children were influenced by marketing.

University of Otago marketing lecturer, Dr Leah Watkins, added the game was "just another example of building brand familiarity".

"We know that the more we see a product, the more comfortable we are with it and the less we question its messages."

A UK study published in the Journal of Consumer Research in June showed connections made with brands in childhood were stronger and longer lasting than those made in adulthood, she said.

The game - manufactured by Planet Fun - is marketed as being for over-12s, but younger children would be exposed to it through siblings and peers, Watkins said.

Planet Fun chief executive Jeremy Kirkwood-Smith said the game was developed in the UK from a popular Apple app, and his Auckland-based company adapted it for New Zealand last year.

About 180 Kiwi brands were approached to be included in the game, but no money was exchanged. Sales had been strong, he said.

Kirkwood-Smith was surprised by the negative reaction. There was a limit to the number of companies they could go to, and he believed they had done a balanced job. It was parents' responsibility to educate their children about healthy eating.

"All we've got to do is go to the supermarket, or travel around and look at billboards, watch television or look at advertising. It's all around.

"If you're a good parent you'll educate your child well so maybe they should work out how to educate them."