Lidl tightens children’s marketing policy in new campaign featuring Paw Patrol

This month, Lidl is launching an international partnership with Paw Patrol in thirty countries. As part of this, the retailer is tightening its criteria for children’s marketing: only healthy private-label products will be eligible.

Strict requirements

Coinciding with the theatrical release of PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie, the characters from the popular Canadian children’s series will appear on 13 food products from Lidl’s private labels, including Vemondo oat milk, Milbona fruit yogurt, and Harvest Basket oven fries, as well as on ten varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. The retailer emphasizes that this applies exclusively to products that meet strict requirements.

Starting in July 2026, private-label products with packaging aimed at children will only be allowed on the discounter’s shelves if they meet both the World Health Organization’s (WHO) nutritional criteria and Lidl’s additional criteria. Exceptions will be made only for certain seasonal occasions such as Christmas, Easter, or Halloween.

“Products parents can trust”

In this way, Lidl aims to help families make informed choices. After all, 25 percent of children in Europe are overweight, according to a WHO report. “With the PAW Patrol campaign, we’re getting children excited about healthier food in a playful way and offering products parents can trust,” says Stefan Haensel, head of quality and sustainability at Lidl.

The partnership is part of Lidl’s “Conscious Eating” strategy, guided by the Planetary Health Diet, a scientifically grounded dietary model that takes into account both healthy and sustainable food within the limits of what our planet can sustain.