More for the Bitty Buyer: Additional resources and websites on Advertising and Children

The web has offered more links for the Bitty Buyer to explore the field of marketing and Advertising to children and provides extensive information on the topic and various relevant subtopics that would be of  interest to readers of the Bitty Buyer Blog. Ten new sources were found and I have provided them in the Linkroll. These links expand upon information covered in The Bitty Buyer and also give information on new topics that may be of interest.

            One group of sites that have been provided are sites that cover general advertising and marketing from a business perspective and include news links, media and blogs on their respective topics. The Interactive advertising Bureau and Adweek were similar in their websites. They both give lists of links to news updates and events in the field of advertising and are highly interactive with video available. The Media Channel site is similar but the layout is very busy and reminiscent of a newsroom in its design. Blogs and videos are also featured at this site.

            The second group of sites are informational about a cause, usually a cause focused on media and children in some way and these sites are geared toward parents in order to help them to know how to deal with their child in a media influenced society. The National Advertising Review Council, National Institute on Media and the Family, Campaign for a Commercial free Childhood, and the Shaping Youth organization, all have sites that promote their organizations and give detailed information about them, what they promote and how to join them. The National Advertising Review Council’s site is informative but the layout is a bit disengaging because the news links don’t include any media or graphics. The Shaping Youth website offers links to other issues between children and the media such as body image, childhood obesity, and consumerism which I feel would be of interest to those who would like to expand on the topic of children and media.

            The final group of sites are from ad agencies who have sites that are geared toward companies who are looking to advertise their products to children.  Just Kid Inc. is a company that advertises children’s products and the website is bright, interactive and attractive. The design of the website itself  gives off a feeling that this company has authority in their field and would be an attractive resource for companies looking to market their brand. Planet News and Views is a group which provides in-school marketing and has links for advertisers, teachers, clients, and products, which are the target audiences for this website. Berenter Greenhouse and Webster had the most engaging and interesting site of this bunch because of its use of animation in the intro to the site. This company markets especially for women, mothers and children and also seems to be an authority in their field.

These resources in the Linkroll have been provided to more fully engage those who wish to read further into the world of advertising to children and I feel that these sites are the best to aid in that search.

Advertising for the Nintendo Wii: Nintendo Modifies Advertising Campaign for Kids

Nintendo Wii’s are some of the most popular toys for children to have in 2008 and they continue to sell out from shipment to shipment. There are waiting lists that people can put their names on knowing that they could be waiting for up to a year to actually receive their console, but they are willing to do so because the Wii is the “it” toy of the time. While Wii’s are seen as being kid friendly and encouraging active play in the video game market that had previously been condemned for making children lazy, some of Nintendo’s advertisements have been criticized as being potentially misleading to children. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit has examined a commercial from Nintendo’s ad campaign and has called the company’s attention to the commercial and how it could be seen as confusing to a child. Nintendo has taken CARU’s opinion on the commercial and has agreed to remove it from their advertising campaign, but this incident brings up the general ethical issue of children and advertising and whether or not it is ethical to advertise to children. Although Nintendo has consented to revise their marketing plan, not all companies change their advertisements according to what CARU thinks should and should not be included in product commercials. Advertising seems to be an ongoing problem when it comes to children, but companies are becoming more aware of their power on children’s decisions and thoughts and they are starting to actively take a part in preventing confusing advertising directed at children.

The commercial that was in question from Nintendo was for their new game called Mario Party 8, which is one of the gaming system’s top selling and most popular games for children. The commercial depicts a group of children playing the game at a slumber party and has a caption which informs the viewer that the game and the console are sold separately. CARU was concerned with the ad for the main reason that children may be confused about what it is they are purchasing when getting a Nintendo Wii. Most children are not able to read the caption or are not paying attention to what it is saying during the commercial because they are focused on the action that is taking place. Because of this they may not be aware that in order to play Mario Party 8 there are various things that need to be purchased besides the Nintendo Wii. In order to play the game the way that it is depicted in the commercial, a Nintendo Wii, Mario Party 8 game, and separate game controllers must be purchased. From the commercial a child may assume that with either the Nintendo Wii or Mario Party 8 itself that all these things are going to be included and may be disappointed if they request these things from their parents and they end up receiving something other than what they saw in the advertisement.

The issue of the Nintendo Wii commercial is relatively small because it is a simple misunderstanding of an advertisement and Nintendo cooperated in CARU’s decision about the commercial and they agreed to pull it from their advertising. In the field of marketing and general media that children are exposed to there can arise other problems that are basically like this but can end up being more severe for a child if they are not aware of all that is included in a particular purchase. Companies like McDonalds are becoming better at informing parents and children what is included in their meals with nutrition facts on the outside of Happy Meal boxes but it has been a long road to get to the point where companies are willing to disclose all information to their consumers, especially companies that deal with small children as one of their main markets. Companies that use children as a market usually depend on them for most of their revenue, and as a profitable market they should be respected in their position and should be given all information in and advertisement so that they can make an informed decision about their purchase. Ads that are made for children and designed in a way that is comprehensible to them will not only help them to better understand different toys and services that they can purchase, but it will also help them to grow into smart consumers who will know how to make well rounded decisions about future purchases. Corporations play a large part in the development of young consumers and should not only provide quality products but also market these products to their younger audiences in a conscientious manner.

Resouces for The Bitty Buyer: Linkroll Sites for Further Research on Children and Marketing

This week I searched for resources on the web which were pertinent to my blog’s topic of children and marketing. I found ten excellent resources during my search which expand upon my topic in different ways and focus on certain aspects of my topic in more detail than I can cover in my blog. These resources are included in my linkrolll and can be accessed from there. One of the first sites that I encountered was called Advertising in the Media and it’s a very simple site of a list of links that could be could resources for teachers and students who are interesting in learning more about advertising in the media and the general effects of it on society. This site as I said before is very simple in that it does not use any graphics and the layout is straightforward which makes it easy to use but this is also somewhat of a drawback because the site itself is not very attractive or aesthetically pleasing for its user. Otherwise the content is valuable for the topic and could be a beneficial resource for an advertising student. The next two sites for the American Advertising Federation and the American Marketing Association were very similar in their goals but their layouts made them differ in positive and negative ways. Both of the sites give detailed information about their goals educate the public about marketing and advertising through their research and links to different news studies. The difference in the format of the sites makes a difference in the overall experience of them. The American Advertising Federation has a visually simple site and easy to navigate with clear and comprehensive links while maintaining its professionalism. The American marketing Association site, on the other hand, has lots of links to relevant sources but it’s a bit confusing and maybe even overwhelming when first finding the site. With the American Psychological Associationn’s site I directly linked to the page on children because it gives a long list of topics to choose from that deal with children that would further someone’s interest in children and the different kinds of things that can effect them mentally besides advertising. Visually this site is a bit boring, the colors are simple and the graphics aren’t very engaging but the simple structure makes it easy to navigate and find relevant information quickly. MarketingProfs was a visually engaging site and I was immediately interested when I came to the page because of the color scheme and the different kinds of media and graphics that are available. There are graphics, videos, and various links which make the site not only visually appeasing but interactive for its user. The content is very focused on marketing in the news which seems to be updated quite often.
A unique part of this site is an area where you can input your email address on the homepage which will sign you up for the website and allow you to receive newsletters about marketing events in the news through email. A site that was more suited towards parents who are interested in preventing their children from becoming victims of persuasive marketing was the New American Dream site which offered tips for parents to follow so that they could help their kids to understand commercials. This would be a useful site for parents, but for others it is somewhat useless. 4Kids Entertainment and the Gepetto Group sites were similar in that they are both sites created by marketing groups who focus on helping companies to learn how to market and brand their products based on case studies that have been run by both groups. Both sites are extremely well done and the animation and graphics can get a bit distracting at times from the actual information being offered. The Gepetto Group’s site was especially animated which overpowered the little bit of information that was given. The last two sites, the Children’s Advertising Review Unit and Comercial Alert, were the most relevant to my blog and spectacular finds because they directly further upon information that my blog addresses. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit is specifically designed to review different advertisements that are put out for children and the group assesses if these ads are appropriate for children to view. An interesting section of this page is the “complaint” section where a user can report an ad that they have seen which they thought was inappropriate and was directed toward children that are under the age of 12. Comercial alert is dedicated to protecting people, not only children, from commercialism. This site is visually not engaging and could use work on the visual design. Overall these resources were rich and valuable finds which I feel will add to the overall experience of The Bitty Buyer.