Consumer group CHOICE has accused food giant Nestle of "healthwashing" for selling kids fitness trackers with tins of Milo.
Nestle has tapped into the craze of wearable fitness trackers with the launch of the MILO Champions Band, aimed at kids aged six to 12.
The wristband can be bought for $39.99 with a 450g tin of the sugary, chocolate drink.
Fitness trackers are designed to get people to be more active but CHOICE says this is just a "dodgy" marketing move aimed at boosting sales of a drink that is almost 50 per cent sugar.
"With Christmas just weeks away and many parents madly searching for stocking fillers, fitness trackers might seem like a great gift but it's worth standing back and asking why these companies are so keen to push them," says CHOICE spokeswoman Kate Browne.
"The sad fact is junk food companies love to sell the message that you can simply outrun bad eating habits if you exercise enough. They also 'health wash' poor products by talking about energy instead of sugar.
'Healthwashing' is a term used to describe when a product is marketed as being healthier than it is.
Advertising on the packaging will focus on health-boosting ingredients, such as vitamins, antioxidants and probiotics, and dismiss the poor nutritional content like sugar and fat.
With one-in-four Australian children classified overweight or obese, Nestle says the MILO Champions band is an affordable activity tracker designed to motivate children to be more active.
"It's disappointing to be shamed for a product that's successfully getting kids more active," a Nestle spokesperson said.
According to Nestle, 85 per cent of parents who have bought the tracker said their child had become more active since wearing the tracker.
The company says the trackers recorded an increase in activity one month after the purchase.
"App data shows the impact lasts - on average, the number of steps a MILO Champions Band wearer takes increases as they continue to wear the band," the Nestle spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
It's not the first time Milo has come under fire from the consumer advocacy group for its juxtaposition of healthy lifestyle messages and poor nutritional profile.
The popular drink, found in many Australian households, won the CHOICE Shonky Award for "sugar-coating" the Health Star Rating.
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