More than ever before, tweens are being bombarded with marketing messages from decidedly non-youth-oriented marketers and brands. Victoria's Secret cleverly pitches its age-bending "Pink" line of apparel to youngsters. Credit card companies lend credit to members in young age brackets. Nelly-backed Pimp Juice provides adolescents with a swig of the cultural underbelly of the street. MGA Entertainment's Bratz encourage little girls to dress up favorite dollies in satin and lace.

As the race to market products to youth intensifies, one classic American youth brand has announced that it is exiting the tween market. According to recent reports, M&M's brand candies, the colorful candy-coated milk chocolates, is no longer seeking to melt in the mouths of children less than 12 years of age. Masterfoods spokeswoman Marlene Machut delivered the news: "The bottom line is, we will not be advertising…our core confectionary and candy and snack products to children under 12." In addition to M&M's, the new policy applies to Snickers, Mars bars, Milky Way, Skittles, Starburst, and Twix.

The recent move by Masterfoods—the maker of M&M's, Snickers, and Skittles—raises a perplexing question: Why would a successful candy maker pull out of a core market when marketing to youth is on the rise? In recent years, aggressive lobbying from special interest groups in Europe and the U.S. has pressured food manufacturers to combat obesity. Groups such as the William J. Clinton Foundation have called on the food industry to change its marketing practices, and companies like Masterfoods are starting to buckle. In addition to changing its segmentation and targeting tactics, Masterfoods has also agreed to pull products from school vending machines—a change carried out in accordance with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, an initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation.