Children especially vulnerable to increasingly intrusive advertising
Newswise
October 30, 2007
Newswise
— For today’s children and teens, technology fits
seamlessly into everyday life. Using the Internet,
playing video games, downloading music onto an iPod or
text messaging with a cell phone is as easy as flipping
a light switch. Although members of this “digital
generation” have found ways to use technology to have a
more powerful voice, digital marketing has made them
more vulnerable to the influence of Madison Avenue,
according to Kathryn C. Montgomery, an expert on
children, teens, media and online marketing at American
University’s School of Communication.
Montgomery’s new book, Generation Digital: Politics,
Commerce and Childhood in the Age of the Internet (MIT
Press, summer 2007) examines the numerous ways in which
digital media has influenced today’s children, tweens
and teens. In the book, Montgomery documents how
children became a coveted consumer demographic, and that
companies – especially fast food restaurants and snack
food companies – have responded by subtly slipping
marketing messages in everything from avatars to video
games. Montgomery says these tactics are partially to
blame for the childhood obesity problem. Kids are
constantly exposed to the ads and pester their parents
into buying the unhealthy foods or, having money of
their own, kids completely bypass their parents and
purchase the items themselves.
“As early as the 80s but especially in the 90s, we saw
more and more products aimed at kids,” says Montgomery,
who traced the trend to an increase in the number of
working mothers and latchkey kids. “Today, kids and
teens make more of the decisions about where the family
eats and what they buy.”
Montgomery is offering testimony for the Federal Trade
Commission's (FTC) on-going investigation into
privacy-related issues associated with digital marketing
practices. Of particular interest is online behavioral
marketing: collecting information about a consumer's
activities online - including searches, Web page views,
shopping cart behavior, social network relationships and
broadband video use - then using that information to
target the consumer with advertising that reflects the
consumer's individual interests. Behavioral targeting is
used by leading companies such as AOL, Yahoo! and
Microsoft. Google is expected soon to follow suit. The
FTC examined similar issues in 2000, when it held a
public workshop and issued two reports on the practice
of online profiling. Technology advances and the
evolution of business models since that time have raised
concerns among consumer advocates, privacy experts and
others about the implications of data collection in
online advertising now and in the future.
Montgomery is a professor in American University’s
School of Communication. During the 1990s, as president
of the Center for Media Education, she led the way for
the congressional passage of the Children’s Online
Privacy Protection Act. She recently co-authored the
report “Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing: Targeting
Children and Youth in the Digital Age,” sponsored by the
Berkeley Media Studies Group and the Center for Digital
Democracy.
American University (www.american.edu) is a leader in
global education, enrolling a diverse student body from
throughout the U.S. and nearly 150 countries. Located in
Washington, D.C., the university provides opportunities
for academic excellence, public service and internships
in the nation’s capital and around the world.