Frosties in hot water over ad's sex appeal

Children's campaigners yesterday expressed horror at the new Frosties interactive advertisement, which offers kids the option to "make out".

The Kellogg commercial for the breakfast cereal is claimed as being the first of its kind in the world. It is to be piloted on the Videotron cable in London.

Aimed at children, the advertisement allows them a range of on-screen options to decide how action will unfold.

The option that has raised the hackles of children's workers comes when children are presented with three choices - "eat", "sleep" or "make out".

If they press "eat", they are shown a Frosties eating shot. If they press "sleep" they are shown someone sleeping. But if they press "make out", footage of two zebras nuzzling appears on the screen.

During an initial trial of the advertisement, which hits 100,000 homes in the London area for eight weeks from Monday, kids aged between six and 12 are said to have shown enormous enjoyment.

But a spokeswoman for Kidscape, the children's charity, said the reaction at her office was one of "shock and horror".

"It is not appropriate to use sex to sell cornflakes, and they are foisting this on children," she said.

But Nigel Sheldon, head of interactive media at J Walter Thompson, the advertising agency which pioneered the commercial with Kellogg and Videotron, said the option was not salacious. "The zebras aren't mating, they are just two zebras putting their faces towards each other," he said.