Marketers Target Children with Powerful, Subtle Online Tools
New and emerging media provides a wealth of information and entertainment for millions across the globe. Along with the good content there is a fair share of bad. Some content may be intended for a mature audience so adults wanting access to that content would argue that attempts to label and control what is allowed on the Internet smacks of censorship of the worst kind – subjecting everyone to someone else’s idea of what is suitable and depriving users of their right to freely choose. Whether you like all of the content online – and believe me there is a lot out there that I could not begin to justify on any level – it is impossible to set standards that would please everyone. Modifying an old cliché to suit the theme here, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”
Ultimately, parents do need to set some guidelines about acceptable use of new and emerging media and the technology that literally can bring the whole world streaming right into their homes and the impressionable minds of their children. While software can help parents set controls on what can be accessed via a home computer and they can even limit the amount of time their children spend online per day and week, they should remain vigilant as some inappropriate or questionable content is delivered in formats that might otherwise be overlooked.
Whether you know it or not, children are targeted and bombarded by marketers and brands relentlessly. It might be a fast food chain or a toy manufacturer promoting unhealthy foods or encouraging poor behavior, which can be bad enough. Or perhaps children might be exposed to content that usurps the parents’ authority by teaching viewpoints that go against the religious, political, or general principals of the family.
Marketers today are taking full advantage of new media to communicate with children in powerful albeit sometimes subtle ways. Online videos often incorporating cartoon content, advergaming that blatantly promotes a product, service, or theme or incorporates such content seamlessly into the action, and behind-the-scene web analytics that track, measure, and then target children with tailored online advertisements are but a few of the powerful ways marketers and others are making inroads into children’s minds. The bottom line is that parents can’t simply rely on software to keep their children safe nor can they assume children are mature enough not to be affected by the online content they are purposefully exposed to on a regular basis.
Just this past week for example, Build-A-Bear Workshop gained a great deal of unwanted notoriety on a national scale for online content that critics claim targets children with climate-change indoctrination. I first heard about the issue listening to Glenn Beck’s radio program where a mother and her daughter phoned in to discuss advergaming on the Build-A-Bear Workshop web site that incorporated a climate change message. This was soon followed by traditional media coverage of the site’s three-part video series entitled, “Under the North Star: An Uplifting Christmas Experience,” featuring a cartoon polar bear warning Santa about global warming and how it was wreaking havoc on the environment – going so far as to say that the North Pole could vanish by Christmas.
Headquartered in Overland, Missouri near St. Louis, Build-A-Bear quickly removed the content and issued a statement insisting that the message was intended to inspire children to make a difference as individuals and not intended to indoctrinate. Radio hosts and bloggers opposed to the notion of global warming continued to report on the issue with some calling for a boycott of the toy company. Maura Flynn, a contributor on BigGovernment.com, stated that the Build-A-Bear online content is “brainwashing on the sleaziest and most sinister” level. She goes on to write, “People, we have the means, if we have the will, to topple these charlatans who shamelessly prey on little children.”
Regardless of whether you believe global warming is a threat or not, most can agree that the topic is an overly politicized one. Much of the outrage stems from the belief that companies shouldn’t overstep their bounds and should instead leave such topics to parents to discuss with their children. That is the point. Marketers have a great deal of latitude when it comes to targeting children whether the message promotes a kid’s meal with the latest movie toy, sugar-drenched cereals and snacks, or “pick your political topic sure to enrage half of the nation.” This is why it is essential that parents remain vigilant about the content their children are exposed to.
Regards,
Chris Daniel
Resources
Build-A-Bear Draws Global Warming Fire
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2009/12/build-a-bear_draws_fire_in_global_warming_debate.html
Toy Company’s Animated Series Riles Global Warming Skeptics
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581093,00.html
