FTC’s New Rules on Web Advertising to Kids

Posted on August 2, 2012 at 2:21 pm

The Federal Trade Commission is proposing new rules to better protect kids online, closing loopholes that still permit companies to gather personal information about kids despite a 1998 law that was supposed to prevent it. According to the Wall Street Journal:

The rules could affect popular features such as Facebook Inc.’s “Like” button, as well as new social networks for playing games on smartphones. Websites aimed at children already have to get parental consent before gathering information—such as name and email address—from users under 13 years old. But the original law, known as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, hasn’t adapted to advances in Web technology and marketing. Those advances have allowed so-called third parties to gather data without parents’ knowing. For example, some iPhone games popular with kids, include the option to join social networks that collect personal data from users without asking for a parent’s permission. An investigation by The Wall Street Journal in 2010 found that popular children’s websites installed more data-gathering technology on computers than websites aimed at adults.

The Commission is asking for comments and is certain to get many from companies who want to continue to have access to this lucrative data from children. I hope they get some from parents, too.

Teaching Kids About “Stuff”

Posted on July 14, 2012 at 8:09 am

I like Kirsten Greenidge’s piece in the Boston Globe about what she did when her children had tantrums in a store. She said she understands the appeal of “stuff.” And she described how the seemingly harmless fun of posting photos on Pinterest can lead to an adult version of the gimmies. She resolved to put her kids on a no-stuff diet until the next special occasion, even no free lollipop at the bank. She is going to teach her kids to be more present in their interactions with things.

This is perhaps not the most fulfilling way to meander through life, this coveting, this curating of stuff. It is a means of focusing inward, of connecting to others through objects that are, when all is said and done, simply objects. They make poor substitutes for actual human interaction and connection.

Still, from the back seat, each kid howled. I had come between them and their stuff. I was altering their view of the world — a view that it is OK if your need for more objects affirming your place in the universe takes over your experience as a human being.

Over the weekend, my husband and I drove by what was once, in the days of VHS, a video store. I told him that once, when our son was about 2, I stood with him on the sidewalk in front before we went inside and told him that we did not have time to pick out a new movie, so we were just going to go inside long enough to return one, and he should not ask me to stay. Our son said he understood. A man walking past us stopped to listen. “That works?” he said incredulously. It is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of giving in to the “stuff” monster. But it is a much greater gift to teach children to value what they have.

Spider-Man Licorice and Other Weird Marketing Gimmicks

Posted on July 11, 2012 at 3:55 pm

Thanks to my friend and fellow critic Cynthia Fuchs for leading me to this list of marketing tie-ins for “The Amazing Spider-Man.” It’s funny that the Pez dispenser was the first reveal of the movie’s villain. I am not surprised by the fast-food and junk-food tie-ins. That ring toss is just weird. But, once again, I object to the toys that are designed for children much too young to see this PG-13 movie.

Children Now Calls on the FCC to Limit Hidden Ads in Children’s Programming

Posted on June 13, 2012 at 3:55 pm

Industry publication Broadcasting & Cable reports that representatives of the advocacy group Children Now met with a top aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and other FCC staffers last week “to press the commission to take a stand against imbedded advertising and product placement in children’s programming.”

In addition to asking them to explicitly ban interactive kids advertising, they also said the FCC should “carefully review whether broadcast licensees and cable operators are complying with the requirements of the Children’s Television Act (CTA)” in terms of commercial limits (cable) and educational programming (broadcast TV).

The FCC tentatively concluded back in 2004 that children’s TV shows should not have interactive links to advertising unless parents have opted into such interactivity.

At the time, the commission said it would be premature to make that tentative conclusion into a rule because there was not much direct connectivity between TV and the ‘net.

Children Now argues that with programming being offered on multiple platforms, it is time for the FCC to get ahead of the curve — the group concedes that it is “not aware” of any commercial interactivity in any kids programming. But they argue it is just a matter of time given burgeoning interactivity elsewhere. “In the absence of clear and enforceable restrictions, children’s programmers are likely to start using many of the interactive marketing techniques now being used in programs intended for teen or general audiences,” they told the commission.

They point out, for instance, that Nickelodeon has a Dora the Explorer Facebook page, even though Facebook users have to be over 12. Facebook is currently exploring ways to open the site officially to kids, with their parents’ permission.

Children Now also wants the commission to clarify that FCC ad policies apply to video on demand and prohibit product placement in kids shows.

You can support this initiative by emailing the FCC chairman at: Julius.Genachowski@fcc.gov

Related Tags:

Marketing to Kids Parenting

Disney to Restrict Advertising of Junk Food

Posted on June 5, 2012 at 8:37 am

The New York Times reports that:

The Walt Disney Company, in an effort to address concerns about entertainment’s role in childhood obesity, plans to announce on Tuesday that all products advertised on its child-focused television channels, radio stations and Web sites must comply with a strict new set of nutritional standards.

A Mickey Check identifies products that meet Disney’s nutrition standards.

Cereal will have to contain less than 10 grams of sugar a serving to be advertised on a show like “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.”

The restrictions on ads extend to Saturday-morning cartoons on ABC stations owned by Disney. Under the new rules, products like Capri Sun drinks and Kraft Lunchables meals — both current Disney advertisers — along with a wide range of candy, sugared cereal and fast food, will no longer be acceptable advertising material.

This is encouraging news, mostly because it will encourage companies that want to advertise to kids to make products that meet healthier nutritional standards.

Related Tags:

Advertising Marketing to Kids