Australian parents have the chance to vent their spleens about ads targeted at their kids.

The Parents Jury has announced the nominations shortlist for the 2008 Children’s Food Marketing Fame and Shame Awards, formed to gauge parent’s favourite and most disliked children’s food marketing campaigns.

The categories include the Shame Award for Pester Power for using marketing techniques that encourage children to pester for unhealthy foods (toy giveaways, movie tie-ins and celebrity endorsements), and the Shame Award for Smoke and Mirrors – using manipulative marketing techniques that fail to tell the whole story about an unhealthy food (we all love the ‘99% fat free’ claims don’t we).

McDonalds has been nominated for three ‘Shame’ awards for its targeting children through the web and its ‘pestering power’.

Two new award categories have been introduced to address the broader range of marketing strategies being used on kids: The Shame Award for the Techno Hack and the Shame Award for the School Food Bully.

“Food companies are increasingly disguising marketing as entertainment. Many of these have websites that contain multiple games, competitions, downloads and other activities that keep young children entertained for extended periods of time,” says The Parents Jury manager, Justine Hodge.

“This type of insidious marketing encourages brand recognition and loyalty from a very young age.”

Voting closes at midnight on Monday 29 September 2008.