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The line between an advertisement and entertaining content is blurred on YouTube and a child rights watchdog asks the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to intervene.
The Truth in Advertising group has filed a complaint with the FTC against a specific channel from YouTube creator Ryan ToysReview. Hosted by seven-year-old Ryan Kaji (but run by her parents), the channel often finds Kaji playing with non-boxing toys. The complaint states that Kaji's parents did not disclose corporate sponsorships such as Chuck E. Cheese's and Hardee. When the channel did disclose paid sponsorships, these were written or expressed in an unobtrusive way for preschoolers.
"An adult might be able to know … when an influential child, like Ryan, plays with one of his own products," said Bonnie Patten, executive director of Truth in Advertising The edge. "The target audience, which is preschool age, has no idea that it is an advertisement. The goal is that they say, "Mom, I want what Ryan has."
Patten's main concern is that a warning at the top of the description area of a YouTube video or a quick voice-over is not enough for young children to understand that it is paid advertising. . The ethical dilemma presented to creators such as Kaji and his parents is a gray area that people have already brought to YouTube's attention. Designers have called personalities such as Jake Paul, who has repeatedly mentioned that his target audience was about eight years old, for using sponsorship on his channel to launch controversial products, including a gift box site resembling a Thu.
The Truth in Advertising complaint also raises a related issue that the YouTube community has already mentioned: creators who bring their own products and other products to younger viewers. A survey conducted in 2018 by Nerd City's YouTuber Een revealed that Paul's videos were used almost twice as long to plug in his own products, which he was trying to sell to young children. That's why personalities like Ethan Klein, who hosts the popular H3 Podcast, have described Paul's advertising methods as predators.
This is a problem that lobbies have been fighting for years on YouTube, but a crucial factor has changed this week. YouTube diverted the critics by reiterating that its terms of service specified that the site was not intended for people under 13 years. Instead, YouTube has designated its official kids app as a place where younger viewers can watch better prepared videos. . Even then, children's rights groups complained that YouTube was blatantly ignorant of the fact that many of its most important channels were dedicated to young children, including unpacking toys and compilations. nursery rhymes. The company also allowed advertisers to specifically target family content, which seemed to contradict the YouTube statement.
Now, after being fined $ 170 million for allegedly violating the Children's Online Privacy Act, YouTube is changing things. YouTube must stop collecting data on videos targeting minors, which means that they will not be able to show with targeted ads. This will probably push creators to multiply corporate sponsorships because they will no longer be able to broadcast a type of popular advertising on their channel. Creators who create videos that appeal to a younger audience or directly target children will also need to tag their videos as such and lose some of the product's capabilities, including the ability to send notifications. YouTube has also launched a dedicated version of the kids' site, accessible online, which exists next to the YouTube Kids app.
This does not solve Patten's concerns about the fuzzy line that exists in the creators' videos, but she says it's proof that the government and YouTube are ready to solve the serious advertising issues on the platform .
"Influence marketing is a relatively new form of marketing," Patten said. "Research and law must catch up with it now. There is now a body of research that can guide the FTC in how it should solve this problem, especially this kind of native advertising for kids. I think we will definitely see the new FTC guidelines. "
Whether or not it means that personalities like Paul, Kaji or even JoJo Siwa, a popular YouTube creator who often incorporates his own product lines into his videos, will have to stop, is unclear. It's not about preventing all creators from working with advertisers or using their own platforms to promote their own product, Patten said. It's about understanding the difference between an audience able to watch a video and saying that someone is trying to sell them something and those who can not.
"The FTC would take the position that a reasonable consumer next Kylie Jenner will know that it's her makeup line when she posts on Instagram," Patten said. "And if they know it's her make-up line and she's hooking it up, then Kylie Jenner does not need to disclose. The question of when you need disclosure arises only when the reasonable consumer who looks at it will not know it is an advertisement. "
"With regard to young children, especially preschool children, the research indicates:" You are not allowed to present them ads in an organic way because they can not differentiate ads from organic content. "
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