Lucky Charms Fined for Marketing to Children

General Mills Canada was fined $2,000 for using the Lucky Charms website to advertise to children under the age of 13. Their website included a game featuring Lucky the Leprechaun, but also contained a pop-up ad alerting users to a new version of the cereal. Apparently the pop-up was considered crossing the line, and was the cause of the fairly insignificant fine.

We’re not sure whether $2,000 really sends a serious statement to a company like General Mills, but we’re almost positive getting kids to play a game with Lucky the Leprechaun is a significantly more effective way of luring children to buy Lucky Charms than any pop-up ad they’ll ever come up with.