Online marketing in the games they play have significant effects on children's behavior, according to research funded by the European Commission. The research examined the impact of marketing through social media, online games and mobile applications on children's behavior.
According to the research' executive summary, advertisements in online games were central to the business models of social media and mobile applications. An experiment revealed that games specially designed for advertising that promoted snacks increased snack consumption for Dutch and Spanish children. Another experiment found that children aged eight to nine were vulnerable to in-app purchases.
Are you concerned with the amount of marketing your children see? https://t.co/AuUFYMSz1i
— CyberSN (@cyber_sn) July 7, 2016
Protection From Online Marketing
"This is a significant study on an already pressing policy issue. The study demonstrated the large impact that online marketing practices can have on children and the difficulty in managing such effects from the perspective of parents and sheds light on their coping strategies," Dr. Giuseppe Veltri, one of the researchers said as quoted by a Science Daily report. Veltri teaches social psychology of communication at the University of Leicester.
The European Commission research has further exposed that European children do not have equal protection from the negative effects of online marketing, added the report. Regulation of marketing to children is also said to differ across countries.
Parenting And Online Marketing
SC Magazine reported that majority of parents do not consider online marketing that focuses on their children as a major risk. Parents are also said to be unprepared to protect their children online. The key findings of the research posted in the European Commission's website said parental intervention in children's online activities differ with French parents intervening less and Swedish parents more actively engaged in what their children do online.
In the research's executive summary, a survey of parents from eight European nations showed that parents were "somewhat concerned about their children being exposed to advertisements for unhealthy food, targeted advertisements, hidden advertisements and to prompts to make in-app purchases." In focus group discussions, parents had little concern for online advertisements.
