Christmas arrives one more year and with it the advertising of toys. Beyond traditional ads, new children’s advertising enters homes through funny and everyday videos starring real children of flesh and blood. This article analyzes the role that kid influencers are occupying on Youtube, why they are so attractive and offers evidence of their influence.
The objective is to call for greater regulation of this type of advertising and, above all, the promotion of a digital advertising education in family and school, the best and most useful tool we have at our disposal.
The kings of children’s media consumption
Youtube has become the king of children’s consumption, above traditional television and even streaming platforms. During the 2020 lockdown, 78% of children regularly watched Youtube videos. It is now the favorite platform of children between 5-14 years old, who spend an average of 85 minutes a day on it.
Within this means of communication, the presence of the so-called kid influencers is growing. They are boys and girls who record everyday activities (play, eat …) in short and fun format videos. Many times, helped by their parents and with brand content included. These influencers have millions of views and are even dubbed into multiple languages.
Some of the most popular kids on Youtube are Ryan’s World, with 30 million subscribers (and which has made the leap to television) or Sis and Bro, with more than 16 million. In Spanish, Las Ratitas (24 million subscribers) or Dani and Evan (3.16 million) are well known, who have even released books about their adventures.
This platform bases its recommendations on algorithms and insists on the content it knows each child likes. Thus, it makes our children spend hours “glued” to a screen watching other children open surprise envelopes or play with their toys in a loop. Hours and hours of the same impacts. But do children know how to identify that many of these videos are advertising?, do they influence their purchase decisions?, should we put limits on them?
Proven influence: “I want that”
The influence of advertising on children is one of the most worked on topics from the scientific community. Research tells us that children from the age of five begin to distinguish traditional advertising from other types of content. But until 9-11 they do not correctly understand the persuasive intent of these messages. In addition, school-age children can differentiate advertising, but show no resistance when the persuasive message comes from their trusted networks or celebrities. That is, they are more influenced by content that comes from an influencer than from a traditional spot.
The influence of kid influencers occurs in a persuasive process of different layers:
Children are fascinated by a fun and immersive aesthetic that makes them have a positive attitude towards the character and what is announced.
An illusion of intimacy is created that generates a special relationship with these characters over time (something called parasocial interaction).
There is an aspirational identification with them, as we also know happens with serial fiction characters. Hence, many parents will have heard their children say “I want that” when they see these types of videos. They want to have what they have and eventually be like them.
Signage is not enough
Although some of these videos are identified as advertising when there is a brand (not all of them are), their commercial influence is still predominant in children who do not have the critical maturity necessary to fully understand an advertising message. Many of them do not even know how to read correctly, so it would be necessary to harmonize a signage that included oral warnings, among other issues.
More regulation of this type of advertising content by the platforms is necessary: reduce the presence of brands, the recommendations made by the algorithm and assess what type of products are appropriate to advertise. Special mention would be taken, for example, the ultra-processed food that is so present in these contents and that can promote an unhealthy lifestyle among children, even if there is no specific brand behind.
Promotion of exacerbated consumerism
We can not put fences to the immense field that is Youtube. TAmpoco you have to be alarmed because much of the content of toys they see is harmless, although repeatedly it can encourage exacerbated consumerism, especially at this time of year, or not coincide with the values that parents want to instill.
It is recommended to expand the content that children can watch on Youtube and reduce or negotiate the change of videos if they have been watching a specific type of content such as kid influencers for a long time. Above all, it is good to sit down with them to reflect when a brand appears in that content and reflect with them on their consumption decisions.
On the other hand, it is highly recommended to analyze this type of content in schools from the early stages of Early Childhood Education, since the leisurely reflection with other classmates will reinforce the critical attitude and an authentic media literacy that will grow over the years.
As science shows us, children can learn to understand advertising, also in complex online scenarios. And it’s the most effective thing we have at the moment.
María del Mar Grandío Pérez, Associate Professor, University of Murcia
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.
