Pre-Schoolers

Kids are easily targeted -- grouped together -- at home until they're 6 years old, at schools for 12-16 more years.

Television at home

Most parents wouldn't tolerate strangers approaching their kids in person, either at their door or at the mall, and trying to sell them something.

Yet, in most homes, TV is the babysitter and parents allow some very sophisticated strangers to sell things to their kids.

Most parents -- like most kids -- have had no training in persuasion analysis and regard ads, like pesky mosquitos, as annoying but insignificant. 75-80% of adults respond to survey questions, answering "Advertising doesn't affect me."

Public Television

Pre-school programs on PBS -- trusted by most parents -- made a big change when they started accepting "sponsorship" money, creating brief, introductory "feel good" ads associating the program with the product sponsor. During "Pledge Weeks" PBS still claims that they are "ad free," but this is a deceptive ploy, based on legal technicalities. They don't have "advertisers," they have "proud sponsors." These sponsors don't use a hard-sell approach, they use a soft-sell.

Their target audiences are pre-schoolers and their parents. Pre-schoolers can't read, but they can quickly recognize logos and packaging -- and associate good things together. And pre-schoolers have a lot of "pester power."

Long before they're able to read, pre-schoolers are able to recognize the sponsors' product logos and packaging in the grocery store as they ride in the shopping cart accompanying Mom and telling her what they want.

Check out pbskids.org online: at the bottom of the program pages (Arthur, Clifford, Dragon Tales, etc.) are the logo links to their "proud sponsors" (Juicy Juice, Chuck E.Cheese, McDonalds, Alpha-Bits, Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, etc.) where fun and games are also available on their commercial website. Furthermore, parents and kids are urged to join the PBS kids-clubs (thus, adding to the consumer data bases of the advertisers).

Today, 20 different pre-school TV programs rely on the income from licensing contracts for books, toys, games, and videos related to the programs. "Networks are not thinking about children as little beings to love and nurture," writes Professor James Steyer of Stanford, in his book The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on Our Children. "They're thinking about them as little consumers to sell plush toys to."

"Proud Sponsors" and Straight-Faced Mendacity

Time (June 28, 2004) magazines' article "Pitching it to Kids" surveys the issue of targeting young children as consumers, focusing on the online games (Neopets.com) and the ongoing controversy about the ethical issues. (See also New Marketing Techniques PDF.) In response: my "Letter to the Editor" about this Time article:

It’s not surprising to see the venues of commercial TV and websites “pitching
it to kids,” delivering pre-school audiences (grocery cart riders, able to
recognize logos and packaging on the shelves, finger-pointing pester-power) to
the advertisers. What is shocking, however, is the saturation of ads in the
previously non-commercial venues of many schools and PBS. Channel One, for
example, now delivers a daily dose of slick ads to a captive audience of over 8
million kids in their classrooms. Pre-schoolers, watching the PBS kids programs
at home, once were exempt from being a target audience. Now, every program has
a set of “proud sponsors” (e.g. McDonalds, Chuck E.Cheese’s, Frosted Flakes,
Juicy Juice) not only with “soft sell” feel-good ads, but also (at PBS.org)
web-based games and links to their “proud sponsors.” I marvel at the
straight-faced mendacity of PBS fund-raisers during Pledge Week when they brag
about presenting commercial-free programs. It’s hard to justify the
corporate-image ads (ADM,SBC,CIT) of the “proud sponsors” of the “Nightly News
Hour” for adults; but, targeting our very young children in their own homes is
beyond the pale. --- Hugh Rank

Sesame Street for Poopy Pants

"How young is too young to park a baby in front of the TV set? The American Academy of Pediatrics's rule has been steadfast: No television under age 2....

Now the venerable educational organization that pioneered "Sesame Street" is lowering that age limit with a new DVD series, "Sesame Beginnings," which targets babies and toddlers from 6 months to 2 years."

For more about "Sesame Beginnings" (April, 2006): Experts Rip 'Sesame Aimed at Tiniest Tots'

The Next Kids' Superbrand?
By MARYANNE MURRAY BUECHNER | Time | April 10, 2006

Except for the researchers taking notes, a Nickelodeon focus group looks like story time at a preschool. In one recent New York City session, four 4- and 5-year-olds heard a story from a future episode of the cable network's hit show Go, Diego, Go!, in which a boy enlists a falcon to recover a magic flute. "The snake sings, 'Yuka, yuka, yik yik ...'" the storyteller reads. Kids giggle, observers scribble, and Nickelodeon finds another way into kids' imaginations--and their parents' wallets.

Diego, whose show is a spin-off of the wildly popular Dora the Explorer (he's Dora's animal-rescuing cousin), is about to go from TV star to retail brand. About 1.8 million kids tune in to Diego every weekday, and Nickelodeon is counting on them to make his merchandise--Diego toys by Fisher-Price will be out in June; clothes and books by fall--just as popular. "He's bilingual, and he has a sense of adventure," says Nickelodeon president Cyma Zarghami. Nickelodeon is a master at milking hot properties. Retail sales of Nick-related products--from Dora backpacks to SpongeBob Band-Aids--topped $5 billion last year. Will Diego be the next big thing in kiddie cool? Nickelodeon hopes it runs in the family
.Copyright © 2006 Time Inc.

From -- Hugh Rank, Language and Public Policy (NCTE, 1974):

"In the past, I have written that certain advertisers were "child molesters." Indeed, this is an attention-getting charge, but it is accurate.

Our moral sense is outraged by inequality. In sexual matters we already have a sophisticated vocabulary to describe situations of equality and inequality.

For example, we speak of seduction when there is not an equality, a mutuality of exchange, when the knowledgeable or crafty seducer takes advantage of the innocent or naive; we speak of rape when force or violence creates a situation of inequality; we speak of child molesting when age is concerned, when the young are abused.

Using this analogy, it is clear that in language situations today many of our advertisers are seducers and child molesters, taking advantage of the young, the innocent, the naive, the gullible."

When Web Time Is Playtime

IF you’ve been noticing an increase in the number of smudgy fingerprints on your computer screen, it may be because your young children are spending more time online. With new services coming from companies like Lego and Disney that are aimed right at them, it might be wise to keep some glass cleaner nearby.

These services are increasingly social in nature, places where your children can interact with other children, and they are becoming a central part of the business plans of the people who make TV programs, toys and cereal.

Your child might get a plush toy bearing a code for a free gift on Neopets, or a gift card for a free month on Club Penguin. How can parents sort out the best options among these services? One trick is to think about how they make money.

Because of multimedia Web software and faster Internet access, there are now lots of sites that mix habit-forming games with ads. One is even called Addicting Games (www.addictinggames.com), and it is run by Viacom’s Nickelodeon division, a company that has a clear interest in attracting the minds and mouse clicks of children.

As visitors play (and rate) games like Indestructo Tank or Drag Racer v3 on the site, they see ads for Intel computers or other Nick sites. Clicking through and hopping from site to site will give a child a crash course in the latest Bratz movies or Hannah Montana concert.

Another group of sites mixes free content with paid access, using a technique known in the industry as the velvet rope approach. Children are invited in to set up an account, and they become invested as they adopt pets or decorate homes. But then they are teased with features that cost money. Real money.

Later this month, BarbieGirls will be retooled in this way. Last year the site required the purchase of a Barbie MP3 player for access to certain content, an idea that has been abandoned. In the new version, children will be able to get in free and chat with others, dress up their on-screen dolls and decorate a room. But a collection of some games and fashion items will be off limits unless they become a V.I.P. player, which requires cash. V.I.P.’s are distinguished from the other Barbies by their sparkling tiaras.

For younger children of both genders, ZooKazoo (www.zookazoo.com), out this month, is similar to the popular Club Penguin but has an educational slant, with games that involve sorting objects and saving the environment.

As you play, you can add friends to your buddy list and earn money by playing games. With the money you can buy furniture for your home or clothing for your on-screen representation, known in the business as an avatar. But you need to come up with $6 a month for the premium games.

Another way to pull money from your bank — call it the Webkinz technique — is to tie traditional toys to online experiences. The toys have a tag with a code that you type in to meet the virtual edition of your pet, or perhaps to meet with the pets of other children. Examples include Shining Stars (www.shiningstars.com), Bratz (www.be-bratz.com), MushaBelly (www.mushabelly.com), Beanie Babies 2.0 (www.beaniebabies20.com), (www.myepets.com) and Littlest Pet Shop VIPs (www.littlestpetshop.com).

The concept works like a charm, except when children realize that they can get more and better virtual pet clothing if they can persuade their parents to buy another toy. Some parents have been known to load up on dozens of Webkinz (www.webkinz.com) at $14 each.

Finally, there has been a marked increase in subscription sites for preschool children, perhaps because more parents are willing to pay to shield their children from commercial content. For example, both My Noggin (www.mynoggin.com) and PBS Kids Play (www.pbskidsplay.com) require that you pay to play.

Just watch out for free trials that require a credit card. If your child develops a sudden passion for playing outdoors and you fail to cancel, these services will happily keep withdrawing $6 to $12 a month from your bank until you’re well into your 90s.

With these types of services, you usually have to install a downloaded program file, or purchase a CD-ROM and then pay for future content updates. Another service along these lines is JumpStart Advanced Preschool World, out next week from Knowledge Adventure (www.adventure.com), with educational games and regular downloadable updates with new activities.

Several new services are due over the next year. Planned for this fall in conjunction with the release of the animated movie “Tinker Bell,” Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow (www.PixieHollow.com) will be aimed at girls aged 6 to 12 who want to turn themselves into fairies.

According to Steve Parkis, senior vice president of Disney Online Studios, registering for the site and becoming a fairy will be free. But special powers will be granted to those who buy a fairy bracelet, which is intended to connect to your Windows computer via U.S.B. cable. If you want to get your fairy onto your friend’s buddy list, you will need to buy a certain charm and touch it to your friend’s bracelet. Disney is building another virtual world inspired by the movie “Cars.”

Also on the way is a major addition to Neopets (www.neopets.com), a pretend-pet trading community originally created by two programmers in Britain. Viacom purchased Neopets in 2006 and has been working on the World of Neopia, due early next year. Instead of the flat-looking visuals of the old service, this one will give users a 3-D version of their Neopet avatar and let them play games, trade items, chat with other players and share ideas.

Spore, from Maxis, a division of Electronic Arts, is more a game than an online service, although it does offer ways to interact with others online. The game, which will be of interest mostly to older children, is the brainchild of Will Wright, creator of the Sims, and is due in September. It can be played from a computer, Nintendo DS or phone.

In the game, you design life-forms that grow into tribes and populate a planet, which you can also design. Things get interesting when you connect to other players’ worlds to see if your creatures can get along with theirs. Finally, Lego Universe (www.legouniverse.com), coming next year, will offer a new way to play: in a world consisting entirely of virtual Legos.

“Imagine tens or thousands of people, from all over the world, working together on a single project,” said Mark Hansen, director of business development at Lego and the head of the project, from his studio in Denmark. “They can work together, and build a model of a city like Washington, D.C. Just about anything can be constructed or smashed apart.”

Mr. Hansen promises a place where you can build that castle you’ve always dreamed of, which you can then defend against an army of bad guys, all while trying to persuade other players to join your quest.

Playing a video game against a computer is one thing. But online services like these show that interacting with actual humans can be much more interesting, especially when the person behind that other avatar might be your own child.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
For the most recent reports on kids online, search the NYT Index for: Warren Buckleiter