Advertising for children: 7 rules you must follow

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In advertising and marketing we know that we have to speak the language of the target audience and know how to attract them in a certain way. But that's not exactly how it works when we talk about children and children's advertising .

The subtleties of the public and the restrictions on advertising imposed by regulatory bodies for this type of market make product disclosure more careful and restricted.

In this case, it is not enough to promote products to the target marketing with stockholder database audience; it is necessary to act in a way that contributes to their growth and education.

In this article we will tell you what children's advertising is, we will reflect on advertising for children and on how to characterize abuse in this delicate and interesting market.

We will cover the following topics:

What is a child?
What is children's advertising?
How is abusive child advertising characterized?
The impacts of this advertising on children
Children's advertising in the digital environment
How companies can cope with these restrictions
Brands that managed to work positively with this audience
Conclusion
Keep reading!

What is a child?
Before explaining what children's advertising is, its effects and its particularities, we need to conceptualize something important to better understand this market.

In Mexico , a person is considered a child when they are under the age of 12. After that, they are considered a teenager, until they are 18 years old.

Children's advertising is therefore aimed at the target audience up to 12 years of age.

What is children's advertising?
Children's advertising is any advertising of a product or service aimed at children , with the aim of selling to them .

While those who actually buy the product or service are the parents or guardians, in the past the focus of communication was the child, the real consumer, and parents only acted as decision makers .

There is a big difference between having products for children and advertising products to children that are for them.

It is possible to communicate with parents who feel the need to buy a certain product or service for their children, and this characterizes children's advertising.

How is abusive child advertising characterized?
Given the fragility of the target audience, i.e. that children are easier to persuade, the problem begins to arise when unethical means are used when focusing communication on the youngest children to persuade them that they need a particular product.

They become propagators of that product and act to actually make the purchase, convincing their parents .

Another form of abuse is forcing a child to buy something so that he or she does not feel excluded or inferior.

Children's advertising becomes abusive when the marketing and promotion of the product focus on convincing the child, through methods considered dubious, to make the purchase.

After all, the target audience is extremely vulnerable and susceptible to consumption, as such individuals are not mature people or fully discerning the economic reality of the adult world.

It was then that specialists began to see the need to better regulate this market, not only because of the possibility of this excessive manipulation, but also because of possible unhealthy approaches, such as early eroticization.

The impacts of this advertising on children
Because of children's hypervulnerability, the impact that advertising can have on them is much greater than on an adult. That is why advertising for children is so controversial.

According to experts from Conanda (National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents), children's advertising ignores the authority of parents and can even nullify it, seeking to fill spaces during the time when the child is not under the direct supervision of parents or other family members.

In Brazil, there are 22 laws regulating advertising for children, in the United Kingdom there are 16 and in the United States 15. In countries such as Sweden, Norway, Canada (only in Quebec) and Germany, advertising for children is prohibited.

Children's advertising in the digital environment
Children's advertising on the Internet
In an attempt to circumvent strict regulations, some companies decided to go digital.

Although, according to a survey carried out in 2014 by the National Television Panel of Ibope, children spend an average of 5h35min a day in front of the television, the greater influence that the Internet has on today's children is evident, especially in the youngest ones.

A study conducted by Viacom in 2017 found that Brazilian children aged 2 to 5 spend 50% more time on the Internet than the global average.

According to research from AppGuardian, a parenting app, children ages 5 to 15 spend an average of 25 hours a month in front of YouTube . If you add YouTube Kids and YouTube Go, this time rises to 47 hours.

The same research found that the average time spent on the cell phone is 5.7 hours a day, and on weekends this figure rises to 6.9 hours.

The market for online advertising to children is so robust that YouTube was recently fined $170 million by U.S. regulators for collecting data and targeting ads at children.

This figure was calculated based on the estimated profits the platform made by targeting ads at children. In addition to the fine, the company was forced to adapt within four months to ensure greater protection for children.

After that period, your data will no longer be collected for ads targeting anyone who watches videos of children.

How companies can cope with these restrictions
With so many restrictions and controversies, special attention needs to be paid when thinking about communication aimed at children.

1. Use of certain imperative verbs
Imperative verbs such as “ask,” “buy,” and “acquire” are prohibited. The main theme of this prohibition is that the purchasing process must naturally involve reflection and research to support decision-making.

This type of audience is not considered capable of performing this task consistently, being easily persuaded by the strength of these verbs.

Furthermore, being careful when defining the language to be used in these advertisements is crucial to comply with legal requirements and avoid problems due to this.

CONAR carries out rigorous inspections and annually suspends several advertisements that do not comply with the legislation, which makes it even more important to choose the right words to compose the advertising text .

2. Display of television advertisements
Broadcasters already know this, but it never hurts to repeat it: television commercials for children are no longer permitted, since 2014, by the Conanda resolution .

In addition, advertising that uses animated characters or that makes reference to the children's world, which in some way attracts the attention of children, is also prohibited.

This article on children's advertising on television is one of the most controversial among experts for and against.

While some believe that it is not possible to advertise to children without being abusive by definition, there are those who believe that this ban is a way of censoring and restricting the consumption of products by the population.

3. Promote unhealthy eating
It's not just the overconsumption of processed foods, full of preservatives, sugars and fats, that is bad for children. In fact, just eating these products is bad for you.

And how many filled cookies, industrial cookies, boxed juices, among others, have advertising aimed at children?

Because they have no sense of control, children may be led to consume more than they should, causing overweight and obesity.

4. Restrictions for children
In the 1990s, when there was no regulation on children's advertising, an advertisement for a licensed “Mickey and Minnie” product (which is no longer permitted today) was shown on television.

In the commercial, a child was repeating something like “ I have it, you don’t .” This is a clear example of the shame that is no longer allowed today.

Conveying the idea that a child is inferior for not having a certain product or, on the contrary, convincing him that he is somehow superior for acquiring something, characterizes shame . Therefore, it is prohibited in children's advertising.

Scaring children or showing any kind of danger from something illegal is also not allowed in children's commercials.

5. Creating a false reality by producing material in journalistic format
Children don't know when a commercial isn't real news. This particular format is very persuasive for them and is therefore banned.

6. Devaluation of the authority of parents and guardians
Persuading children to conclude that their parents and guardians do not deserve to be heard and respected in their decisions and rules violates ethics, since they are responsible for the education of children.

7. Tied sale
Making the sale of a product conditional on the purchase of another is already a prohibited practice, regardless of age. So, doing this with children, especially when such a product is said to be a gift, further characterizes the abuse of a children's advertising piece.

Brands that managed to work positively with this audience