I read on The Sunday Times that over 50% of children aged between 7 and 15 own a mobile phone and junk food companies are using SMS to reach them.

Mars bars, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s encourage children to text a number or word to check if they have won a prize and then sends back promotional information and stores the sender’s number.

Healthy eating campaigners, preoccupied by soaring obesity amongst UK children, are outraged by the method, saying it is a way of bypassing parental control.

“Food firms text sweet ads to children”, The Sunday Times – May 30, 2004 (registration requested to get the Online version, however, you’ll find a summary of the article in The Daily Record)