HOW ADVERTISERS TARGET YOUR CHILDREN
From covert device finger-printing to recording each click of their social media lives, profit-hungry firms are using kids as online tools to push junk food and fuel our obesity crisis in the unregulated world of web marketing
IF A stranger stood outside your door shouting at your kids for three hours, you would call the police. But what happens when that same predator is inside your house all day — stalking your kids online? You may not even be aware of it. Worse still, there is nothing you can do about it.
‘This is one of the biggest, and least talked about dangers facing kids online,’ warns child psychologist and researcher Dr Mimi Tatlow-Golden. ‘At the moment, marketers and advertisers are constantly interacting with children and there is no way of controlling that. There is a whole playground where kids of all ages are hanging out, and there are advertisers and marketers saying, “Hey, would you like one of these?”, “Hey do you like the look of this?”
‘The entire landscape has now changed. Kids have their own personal devices. You might be three years old and watching videos on YouTube as a bit of babysitting so that mum or dad can get a bit of housework done or get the dinner on. Or once the kids are a bit older, increasingly they have their own smartphone.
‘That device is in their hands and it’s not visible to other people. The other part of that equation is that now, because of the way digital media is constructed, you can be targeted individually. Advertising is no longer broadcast, it’s narrowcast to individuals and people’s behaviour.’
The world has moved on almost immeasurably since the era of dial–up internet. Children as young as two now know how to swipe a touchscreen phone. And firms are following where the customers are going: online.
The problem is that in the virtual world, especially on social media, it is becoming increasingly difficult for children to discern what is entertainment and what is advertising. Moreover, while there are controls on what adverts our children see and hear on TV and radio, the entire digital arena is unregulated.
‘After restrictions were placed on broadcasts, in the early days there was a lot of focus on what companies were doing on their websites,’ says Dr Tatlow-Golden. ‘We have now moved into the realm of social media. What happens is that your child will have liked certain brands and then they will receive ads on their timeline from that brand.
‘It will come directly from the company, from a celebrity endorser who they have also liked, or it will have come from their peers.
‘Research we did at UCD found that when it comes from our peers it’s the most effective in terms of being memorable.
‘Your child maybe likes it or shares it and they become an advertiser for the company. It’s the equivalent of standing out on the street handing out leaflets for this brand.’
According to Safefood, the food safety promotion board, a child in Ireland is bombarded with 1,500 branded messages a day from multiple media platforms.
There has been an explosion in media into our homes, even since Ireland introduced legislation in 2013 to restrict broadcast advertising of products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) to under-18s.
But while broadcast advertising is more easily controlled, and consists of time-limited advertising slots, direct marketing through digital devices is not, because of that entertaining immersive experience for a child.
Dr Tatlow-Golden, who carried out research for the Irish Heart Foundation into how junk food marketers target children online, says that data on children — their age, location, likes and preferences — is being collected to target them with junk food adverts.
‘They are extracting information about what your kids do and what they like and using that information to design what they show them,’ she says of advertisers and marketers.
‘This is what they see next, what comes up next, what comes up on YouTube etc. A social media company will extract all of the information about what they do and what they like. These guys are really, really smart.
‘They have developed really powerful calculations of what someone is looking at and what they are liking and what that means about what they are most interested in.
‘Like, if a kid goes online and finds that their friends are liking a certain kind of soft drink or chocolate or takeaway pizza.
‘The companies are creating ads and ad campaigns that are very focused on what children and young people enjoy, which is kind of silly, enjoyable, daft, humorous stuff and encouraging them to engage with that material.
‘As a result of liking something or sharing it with a friend, children are actually becoming advertisers for the company themselves. They send the information on through their network, plus they tell the advertiser, “I like this , please send me more”.’ Currently, digital marketing of food to children in Ireland is subject to voluntary regulation by the advertising industry’s code (Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland; ASAI, 2015). Through the use of clever and manipulative digital marketing tactics to sell their products to children, junk food companies are operating in a lucrative online world where there is little effective regulation in place to protect children.
Foods laden with sugar and salt, which are contributing to high levels of obesity, are being promoted by highly-inventive and furtive technology.
In its 2016 report, Who is Feeding the Kids Online? the Irish Heart Foundation found Facebook is currently the primary location for
Facebook is ‘most valuable billboard on earth’
social media marketing in Ireland and has been described as ‘most valuable billboard on earth’.
According to the report, on Facebook, the food and drinks pages that would generate the greatest reach among users aged 13-14 in Ireland exclusively feature, or include, HFSS not recommended for marketing to children under WHO guidelines. These included major international brands such as Coca-Cola.
In 2016, the extent of the veiled manner in which children are being targeted was revealed in a report, Tackling Food Marketing to Children in a Digital World, published by the World Health Organisation.
Covert means include device fingerprinting — where children are tracked across various devices such as smartphones and iPads.
Some use in-device cameras to record facial responses to marketing content. Word-of-mouth marketing is used where friends make recommendations.
The report pointed out: ‘Children across Europe access digital media avidly, predominantly on mobile devices, generally favouring social media and video-viewing sites.
‘Brands and marketers report that digital marketing amplifies advertising in traditional media, achieving greater ad attention and recall, greater intent to purchase
and higher product sales.’ Worryingly, parents and children are mostly unaware they are subjected to this advertising.
‘Most kids, and my research in Ireland would suggest most parents, aren’t aware this is going on,’ says Dr Tatlow-Golden.
‘Everything they do is telling somebody something about themselves. There is this illusion that you’re engaging in this activity within your friendship or your family group. In fact, what is happening is the information is being extracted by the relevant company and its being used to target you more purposely to things you are more susceptible to.’
Media consultant Sheena Horgan, author of Candy-Coated Marketing, warns that today’s children are the first to be raised in a world of digital media, where it is very hard to distinguish between content which has been paid for and that which has not.
Lots of brands put ‘advergames’ up on their sites, which appeal to children. They may seem like harmless fun: free games and apps with cheery cartoon characters. They’re fun and repetitive, so children will return again and again, and are likely to invite their friends to try them too.
They work by the power of suggestion, motivating children to
It isn’t necessarily aggressive but it is relentless
pester parents, or go behind their backs to buy advertised foods. A few years ago, Coca-Cola produced a game in collaboration with McDonald’s called Crabs and Penguins. It featured a McDonald’s restaurant as part of the scenery, and the game involved getting a crab to collect cola bottle tops. Swizzles Matlow also has one themed around its sweets, Squashies. On the McDonald’s Happy Meals website, children are challenged to send ‘Happy’ (a happy meal bag) soaring over as many ghosts as they can.
Children are also being tempted with more obvious methods such as gifts, games, cartoon characters and competitions.
‘Competitions are a massive part of any digital or online campaign,’ says Horgan. ‘It’s not a new concept but when you have it in the digital space you have a very simple mechanic to get people to answer, then you can encourage them to ask others to share. You can incentivise it. The incentive doesn’t have to be huge.
‘Ironically for online competitions it doesn’t have to be the holiday to the States, it can be a simple free product. The shareability is there. It isn’t necessarily aggressive but it is relentless.
‘There are constant promotions and competitions and it’s all about engagement. It’s not just about the brand, it’s about the lifestyle and you have people who are employed to post on a regular basis. So when your 15-year-old posts something the brand posts back. You don’t get that type of interaction with the TV ads.’
Within this social media sphere, brands are also incorporating influencer marketing into their larger advertising strategy.
Specifically, they leverage social media stars to reach out to young children and encourage them to buy their product.
‘Another area that is growing is the ambassadors and the influencers,’ says Ms Horgan. ‘If you have a celebrity ambassador they might be asked to be the face of the competition, they might be asked to put some posts out there. Then you have influencer marketing which is massive now.
‘For teens and young people there are social influencers. They are beginning to be questioned about how they are paid and saying that they are getting paid.
‘If you have a vlogger who is highprofile with certain teens and they are talking about a brand then those teens are looking at someone they admire, respect and
It’s a matter of will. There is market failure
aspire to be then of course that is going to have an effect.’
An advocate of social responsibility, Ms Horgan says marketing can be used as a tool for social good, creating behavioural change as opposed to always being for commercial gain. She cites the Safe Cross Code (a 1970s Irish TV advertisement promoting safety on the roads) and anti-smoking campaigns as good examples.
She was a key contributor to MediaWise, a media literacy programme which aims to teach children about advertising and to make sense of the media world around them. Children need to recognise when they are being sold to, she says. However, more clarity is needed from the marketing and advertising industry in terms of what the definition of a ‘child’ is.
‘When I talk about children I talk about under-18,’ she says. ‘In marketing terms we seem to have this myriad of figures as to what we believe is appropriate or not and we take the under-13 from the States as opposed to ourselves. That’s what’s used for social media and it’s also used for some of the marketing regulations.
‘Up to the age of 12, 13, it’s mum who does the shopping, the buying or whatever. Kids can test her all they like but control is with her.
‘The problem is that once they get over that age is that they’re making a lot of food choices themselves and that is why we are seeing alarming figures in terms of teen consumption of fizzy drinks etc. So if any brand says, “We will not market to under-13s” what about the explicit vulnerability of that teen market who are making their own judgements on what to eat and drink? Who’s protecting them?’
So what is being done to tackle this growing problem? ‘There is conclusive proof of causal food marketing towards children and childhood obesity and five years ago that’s the reason why broadcast media was partially regulated,’ says Chris Macy, head of advocacy at the Irish Heart Foundation.
‘There is still no regulation of digital marketing at all beyond a very weak voluntary code that is doing nothing.
‘They don’t act until after an ad has been aired, rather than take their responsibilities seriously, which they claim they do. The junk food industry decamped into the digital market, which is much more personalised and effective.
‘An advert on TV is a blunt instrument, not specifically targeted at whoever is watching it. Digital ads can be personalised and directed at very small groups. Marketing is one of the big ticket items contributing towards the obesity crisis.’
After repeated failed attempts to meet Communications Minister Denis Naughten to discuss the increasing prevalence of online marketing directed at children, the Irish Heart Foundation says the issue ‘doesn’t seem to be one of concern’.
‘Policy makers have said to us you can’t regulate the internet, but you can,’ says Mr Macy. ‘Nobody sees tobacco ads on social media in Ireland for adults or children because they are blocked out.
‘If you can find a 15-year-old child in Mullingar who says they like pizza and target them for ads, which social media platforms can do, you can untarget them as well.
‘It’s a matter of will and it’s a matter of bringing these organisations to task. There is market failure here. Advertising is a legitimate form of activity but the overuse of it is causing a health problem. It’s the Government’s role to act on that.
‘Sometimes it seems like the Government is protecting the industry from the public rather than the public from the industry.’
While the Government sits back, big business is after the hearts and minds of our children. Brands are trying to enlist children as lifelong followers, and businesses are levering children’s influences in all sorts of household purchases, from the family car and phones to computers and holidays.
In December, SuperAwesome, the UK-headquartered ‘kid-safe’ digital marketing platform, revealed that by the time a child is 13, advertising tech companies will have collected an astounding 72 million data-points on them.
‘The big problem is that we can’t get into get the data because the likes of Facebook and Instagram and all these things won’t let us access data to find out what is going on,’ says Dr Tatlow-Golden.
‘I find that unacceptable. These are minors who we see in society as deserving protection in every other aspect of their lives.’