Child's Play: Food Makers Hook Kids on Mobile Games

U.S. food companies are reaching children by embedding their products in simple and enticing games for touch-screen phones and tablets. The new medium is far cheaper than Saturday morning TV commercials and could prove as effective. The mobile games demonstrate how new technology is changing U.S. commerce, drawing tighter bonds between marketers and young consumers. "The apps are certainly targeted at kids," said Melinda Champion, vice president of marketing at J&J Snack Foods Corp. in New Jersey, which makes SuperPretzel and Icee drinks. "If you get the kids saying, 'Mom, I would love a SuperPretzel,' mom will often buy it for them."