This holiday season it seems that buying your children their own tablet is all the rage. On Friday, November 30th, Mashable released an article on The 7 Best Tablets for Kids. But if you are going to take this route as a parent, you also need to be aware of the pitfalls that come with allowing your child unfettered access to the tech world, because marketers are changing the rules when it comes to advertising to your children online.

Online Watch Dogs?

Seal of the United States Federal Trade Commis...

Seal of the United States Federal Trade Commission. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

These days the line between online games and marketing seems to have become increasingly blurry. Several corporations, most notably IHOP, have come under fire over the past year for their questionable games that have triggered investigations by Children’s Advertising Review Unit, the self-regulatory body that monitors the Web and TV to ensure that ads are properly disclosed as marketing material to consumers. Currently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) does not regulate advertising online or on mobile devices except to make certain marketing messages are not false or misleading. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) only limits ads on television; it does not have a hand in online advertising.

Public interest groups and other researchers have found that there is an alarming lack of oversight when it comes to digital marketing to children. Angela Campbell, a clinical education and communications law professor at Georgetown University, explains that companies such as McDonald’s and Subway, whom she has filed a complaint against for violating child privacy laws, want children to establish positive feelings about their brands very early on.

Some suggest labeling all online ads with disclosures, which McDonalds has done with their HappyMeal.com site. But critics argue that many children in the target audience cannot read these disclosures –– making them ineffective, especially since young children cannot differentiate between an ad and other forms of entertainment.

Collecting Information About Your Children

Simultaneously, major corporations, app developers and data miners appear to be collecting more information about the online habits of young tech users without most parents’ awareness, according to child advocacy groups. Some sites and apps also collect photographs or locations of mobile devices, including tablets, which is a major concern since that is information that can be used to identify and locate a child. This is an area the FTC can affect with revisions to 1998’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). It’s become increasingly difficult to figure out exactly what type of information is being collected and shared. According to a September 2012 New York Times article, industry trade groups claim “marketers do not knowingly track young children for advertising purposes.” However, a “a study last year of 54 Web sites popular with children, including Disney.go.com and Nick.com, found that many used tracking technologies extensively.”

So before you go out and buy your children that tablet and connect to the Internet or download various apps, do your homework. You’ll feel better and your children will be safer.

Happy Holidays.

 

 

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