Selling to Kids Tips
Ad-proof your kids
See through the hype
- 12- to 19-year olds spend roughly $175 billion a year of their own money
- Kids see about 40,000 TV commercials every year
- Marketers will spend close to $15 billion advertising to kids every year
Advice and Answers
Help your kids see through the hype.
Commercials are nothing new. We all grew up with them and can probably sing a dozen or more jingles. What is new is how advertisers have adapted to childrens media. Product placement, online promotions, and viral marketing have taken over their worlds. What’s “cool“ to wear has a lot more to do with the advertising message behind it than the color.What is it?
Children are bombarded with advertising messages everywhere they turn. From traditional TV, print, and radio ads to product placements that appear on TV shows and in movies. Interactive ads blaze throughout online and gaming worlds where sponsorships, contests, and product endorsements appear regularly. Ads also come to our kids disguised as “free” cell phone ring tones (in exchange for them receiving text ads), surveys, and pass-along games and quizzes that capture email addresses when kids respond or forward to each other. (This is called viral marketing.) And every time a kid puts on a T-shirt or a hoodie with someone’s brand on it, they become a walking ad for that company.Why it matters
Advertisers know that the earlier a child learns about a brand, the more likely they will be to buy it later (or beg their parents to buy it). And children under 7 can’t tell the difference between advertising and entertainment. Many ads are for junk food, and 1 out of 3 children in this country are at risk for becoming obese. Ads that target appearance can cause feelings of insecurity and body image issues. Children are so impressionable that a number of organizations, including the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, have called for heavy restrictions on advertising to children. Wanting more and more material things can cause anxiety, depression, and anger. It can make kids judge their self-worth by what they own. Helping kids understand how advertising works can help protect them from being exploited.Parent tips for preschool kids
- Keep them away from advertising as much as possible. Let them watch commercial-free TV or use a DVR to skip through ads. And those sugar cereal Web sites with the free fun games? They are a ploy for kids to get them to buy more cereal.
- Teach kids the difference between a TV program and a commercial. Point out commercials and use a timer to show them when the commercial begins and ends. Ask questions to help them recognize the purpose of the commercial is to sell them a product, like, what is the commercial selling?
Parent tips for elementary school kids
- Help kids identify other types of advertising messages such as product placement, website games, and guerilla marketing. Watch TV or play a video game with your child and find the products and logos used as props or part of the storyline. Have a conversation about how the messages try to get them to buy a product.
- Tell your kids never to click on an ad or fill out a form without your permission. Contests and promotions seek to find ways to get emails and phone numbers.
- Start a conversation. Ask them if they know who created the ad and what words, images, or sounds were used to attract their attention. How did they feel after seeing the ad?
- Explain “tricks” that advertisers use in commercials, like using Vaseline to make hamburgers look juicy. Also chat with kids about the true purpose behind promotions, downloads, and links from games, Web sites, and cell phones. Kids need to know that no matter how clever the gimmick or game, they’re all ads.
- Teach your children about the popular techniques ad-makers use, such as testimonials from celebrities – or everyday people. This will help your kids know how they’re being influenced.
Parent tips for middle and high school kids
- Demystify brands. Brands sell images to kids as much as they sell products. Companies are smart about creating hype around brands, making them seem so cool that every kid will want the product. Help your kids to know that they are much more than what they own.
- Talk to kids about alcohol advertising and keep them away from alcohol-branded merchandise. Studies show how effective alcohol messages are for kids. In fact, the more kids see ads, the more likely they are to drink.
- Mobile phones are for communicating, not for contests. Kids trade information for freebies – soda, candy, etc. Not a good trade because the drink lasts a moment and the cell number is with advertisers forever.
- Talk about peer pressure. Many ads will count on the fact that kids are especially sensitive to peer pressure to be cool. Remind your kids that advertisers are counting on this vulnerability to sell things.
- “What might the advertiser be leaving out of the commercial and why?” Most food ads are not designed to tell us the nutritional values. Encourage your kids to look elsewhere for the missing information.
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