With the massive growth of advertising social media companies like google and Facebook the way we communicate has been forever changed. However, at their core, they are just that; advertising companies. With a new generation entirely raised on the internet, there comes a great number of questions to be answered. What is the impact of social media on a young mind? How are advertisers using these platforms to market towards the digital generation? What are the impacts of digital marketing and social media on a young mind? The Tech industry's extensive data practices raise serious privacy concerns for both adults and children. For children, however, many of the advertisements they are subjected to could potentially be more invasive than they would be for adults. A commercialized technology system is affecting children's well-being both individually and on a societal level. A lot of parents are blind to all of this information and have no idea that any of this is going on. Our goal is to inform parents about these concerns and issues, so that they can help their children navigate the ever changing digital marketplace. While not all advertisements are harmful or manipulative, it is important to understand that children are at a greater risk of being convinced by advertisements. Their privacy should be protected from credible companies and online scams alike.
In the chart below we see a graph labeled "Advertising in Popular Apps Targeting 1-5 year olds. According to The ASEAN Post team stated in the The ASEAN Post, "A study conducted in January 2019, of the 135 most-popular apps for children aged between one to five years from the Google Play Store titled, Advertising in Children's Apps: A Content Analysis, found that all smartphone and tablet apps targeted at toddlers and pre-schoolers have commercial content, often using “manipulative and disruptive” advertising methods." For parents it is important to monitor the type and volume of content their child consumes. They must make sure their child isn't spending too much time online. Parents must also educate their children about online ads so that their kids can be more aware of what they are watching and how they are being influenced by it.
The harm of early childhood digital marketing
Digital marketing to young children has been a growing trend in today's society. This is mainly done to video or game advertising. In this Article, it states, "The food, marketing and digital industries have access to an enormous amount of information regarding young people's exposure to HFSS food marketing online and its influence on children's behavior, yet external researchers are excluded from these privately held insights, which increases the power imbalances between industry and public health." This means there is practically no control over the negative aspect to all of this. There is practically no regulations at this point so it is a free for all. This is causing a huge increase in the percent of obese children. There needs to be rules and regulation set in place before this gets worse than it already is!
The growing threat of digital marketing to youth
Children have become the target for digital marketers in today's day and age. The unfortunate part of this is that they are primarily being marketing products that have had major contributions to childhood obesity. The food and beverage industry is specifically focused on getting this unhealthy merchandise into the hands of these children. The largest stream of this digital marketing is conveyed through the television. In this Article, it states that kids are now being treated as "guinea pigs" by these digital marketers. They believe this is what is influencing the negative health effects brought along with this marketing.
Young people spend quite a bit of time on social media nowadays, so it is very effective to market through these platforms. That is why these digital marketers have taken such great advantage of this opportunity. The only problem is they are promoting companies like McDonalds with Coke like products. This is not a good use of the opportunity. The largest platform this is done on is streaming sites like Youtube and Vimeo because they generally get the most traffic from these teens and children.
There are currently many investigations going down against people that have taken advantage of digital. marketing to the youth. This is not the most optimal way to do this. Instead, they should be marketing positive products to the younger generation to give them better lifestyle choices and values. Action to stop this obesity crisis should be taken immediately.
The threat applies to more than just food, but also health and safety
Everyone is familiar with e-cigarettes especially lately since the use of them has increased tremendously. Kids ages 12-17 or even young adults ages 18-29 have experienced many e-cigarette ads which is having a very negative impact and here is why.
As stated in the article, "Adolescents exposed to e-cigarette ads in retail stores are twice as likely to start vaping within several years, according to a new study." During this study, they took just under 5,000 kids and young adults to ask them about e-cigarette ads and usage over the course of 2.5 years and during this time they find out that over half of the participants in the adolescent group in this study had seen an ad for e-cigarettes in retail stores and 14% of them actually started vaping since the study started! Compared to young adults who over half of them did see an ad in retail and 25% of them started vaping since the study started. This all goes to show how much of an impact marketing, especially in retail, has on these young kids and adults. We all know e-cigarettes are not healthy and the AAP is trying to make laws stricter for those under 21 trying to buy these, which is very important, and another helpful tool is Jonathan Winickoff is trying to get JUUL pods removed from the market because of how dangerous they are and how much nicotine is inside a pod.
Although the study showed such a negative outcome in our kids and young adults, it's very insightful that we can see people of power trying to change marketing and have stricter laws in hopes that the future will have a much better outcome.
Parents cannot be expected to do everything, though
While parents must be responsible for their kids and protect them, it's also important to understand that parents cannot realistically monitor everything their child does online. This is why it's also important for advertising companies to be held accountable, and regulated so that they are restricted in the ways they can manipulate children into buying their product.
But it's not as simple as just preventing advertisers from running certain ads on certain websites. It is more of an issue of data governance.
According to this article from childtrends.org, strong data governance is important for both data integration and data privacy. Early childhood data systems house important private information that should be protected.
With strong data governance, the usual holes in data are filled willingly and securely by the people that data is about.
When data is regulated, this empowers parents to provide consent for their children, and allows them to know what data is being used and why. With a consistent framework and standards, this can help policymakers be more transparent and communicate to families how their data is being used.
But at the moment, only about 44% of states in the U.S report having any type of early childhood data governance. Companies are allowed free reign with sensitive information and little to no transparency. While a parent can do their best to defend their kid, the true issue can really only be solved on a systemic level.
Parents can protect their children's privacy, but only if they are given the proper tools to do so.
American Advertisements and Young Minds
Things are not as they use to be when it comes to the world of advertising. The rise in internet usage has brought out a new way of marketing, and advertisers are not passing up on this opportunity.
Children and teenagers are being brought up in a new internet day and age and have become more vulnerable than ever to advertising. According to the Article, "children 7 years and younger have limited ability to understand the persuasive intent (ie, that someone else is trying to change their thoughts and behavior) of the advertiser." The article then goes into detail about how the young mind, generally from the age of 7 to 11, does not register advertisements the way that we as young adults and above do. This being the case, in some other countries such as Sweden, Marketers are banned from marketing any advertisements to children under the age of 12. This gives Advertisers in America a large set of power, if so pleased, over young minds today.
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