madcomments

Do online ads affect kids?

Posted in Digital, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs December 7th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

A new report from the National Consumer Council (NCC) has found that children are being exposed to inappropriate ads on the websites they regularly visit. But what does this mean for the brands that advertise on those sites?

The report investigated 40 sites including social networks, toy manufacturers, games sites and music download stores. It found the sites had communicated 211 different marketing messages including the selling and promoting of goods that were not aimed at children such as gambling and dating sites.

The main concern raised by the report was that sites that were aimed at kids, such as mousebreaker.com and Barbie, were offering kids ‘free’ phones from Nokia and holidays from Thomson and asking them to apply for a credit card from Virgin Money with an array of pop-ups.

The report also says that kids are lured in by companies to play their online games/viral campaigns and then being asked to purchase something at the end of it.

Many fast food companies such as McDonald’s and Burger King use virals to get kids to go to their sites. This is not so the kids can then purchase something at the end of the game, but instead to get the kids to familiarise themselves with the brand.

A recent viral from McCain asked kids to send their friends a “Potato Parade”, this was a fun activity that I actually partook in myself. Of course I didn’t purchase anything at the end of the game, but the next time I do my grocery shopping, I’ll probably be aware of the brand and buy it because it had provided me with fun. Kids on the other hand, would probably beg their parents to buy it as they wouldn’t have anything to compare that brand with. 

Another concern was that ads on social networking sites MySpace and Bebo, sites that are aimed at an older adult audience, were found to be inappropriate for children, even though these sites were not aimed at kids they are still popular with the age group. But how do we stop kids using such sites?

Ads that were deemed unsuitable for children were also found on search engines Google and Yahoo! but these are known as the world’s largest and most successful search engines and are probably what kids use in the classroom.

Should we regulate all advertising in case kids see them and just in case they happen to pay attention to them? It was a while a go, but when I fitted into this age group I certainly wasn’t paying too much attention to the ads. In fact, when it comes to the internet, I still don’t pay enough attention to actually click through to another website and make an impulse purchase. 

If children are exposed to one particular brand from early on they tend to remember it. This is why I only ever use Colgate toothpaste, Kraft peanut butter and Nurofen pain relief. Marketers are well aware that if they get their brand names in to kids heads from an early age, those names will stick. The ads offering free Nokia phones don’t aim to sell phones to kids at this very second, they are rather trying to create a brand awareness for when that child does decide to buy a phone.

If the rules on internet advertising were tightened, it would certainly push brands to be more creative when trying to reach kids, but it certainly won’t stop them.

Mobile advertising is on the rise, outdoor is certainly gaining headway with budget airlines showing ads on the overhead lockers and now, in the US, McDonald’s advertising on kids’ report cards. Will banning internet advertising on kid’s sites really make a difference for the better to their future?

To read the news story related to this blog, go to mad.co.uk