Food and beverage marketers are spending more than ever to reach kids where they live -- online. Games, cross-promotions with movies and TV, contests...it's the new frontier for marketers trying to reach the new generation. And it's a frontier where the regulators who usually monitor these sorts of things are not yet arrived.

That's what a Federal Trade Commission report released Tuesday has found. The largest food and beverage companies spent about $1.6 billion in 2006 on marketing their products to children. And more than two-thirds of the 44 companies responding in the survey reported having online activities geared toward youth.

The commission studied spending directed at children ages 2-17. A huge $492 million was spent marketing soda, the commission found, with a vast majority of that spending directed toward adolescents. Fast food restaurants reported spending close to $294 million, which was divided about evenly between children and adolescents. For cereals, companies spent about $237 million, with the vast majority of that targeted to children under age 12, according to the report.

If you own a business and receive a bill for online advertising you didn't approve, don't pay the bill. A Milwaukee area business owner, Ken Hurzeler, received a $445 bill from 411 Business Direct, a Miami company that offers paid listings in an online business directory. The problem was that he never agreed to advertise with them.

Hurzeler says the company contacted him about three months ago about advertising, but he did not agree to advertise. He says he asked them to send him more information. When he didn't pay the bill, 411 Business Direct started making repeated phone calls to the company, demanding payment.

Consumer Protection officials think they know what's going on. Companies like this send a bill, hoping that the business owner will believe that he agreed to advertising, even when he didn't. They're hoping the business owner will just pay the bill, rather than deal with the hassle of getting it canceled.