Through innocent eyes

Children are spending more and more time in front of a screen, TV or computer, according to studies around the world. Some children spend at least two hours each day watching television. For each hour of commercial broadcasting, children may see as many as 30 advertisements. When they play computer games, however, there are no such estimates to rely on. As well as watching television, many children play online games with their friends.
When they play computer games there is little parental involvement. This creates an opportunity, like never before, for advertisers to reach children directly.

As a result, advertisers are extremely interested in computer games. But are games just another marketing avenue among many or could in-game advertisements turn child’s play into exploitation? In other words are advertisers using children unfairly as a means of making money.
Games can be useful for branding. Using this technique companies can advertise with or without pushing a particular product. They can expose children to brand names on T-shirts, hats and similar products. Disney’s virtual theme park is likely to go a step further and include incentives, that is, give children a reason to visit the real-life Disneyland. They will reportedly be able to accrue points when playing the game, which will be exchanged for T-shirts or other merchandise (goods) when they visit Mickey and friends in person.
When games are made as marketing vehicles for movies, we have the ever increasingly popular technique of cross promotion. One of the more subtle promotion strategies, used in movies, TV and games, is product placement – where brands and products may be visible in certain scenes, be consumed by a character or even be written into the storyline. One might wonder if sedentary gamers are the ideal market for an energy drink, but then they’ve already been targeted by other beverage producers. Some in-game ads look like real-life ads, positioned on billboards and stadium signage to be part of the landscape. And just as in real life, these billboards are big business.
If children play a favourite game for hours and hours, is using that game for advertising purposes exploitative? Some youngsters may be able to identify an ad from surrounding content, but they won’t necessarily understand that it is trying to persuade them.
Advertising may be a fact of life, but advertisers should also take some responsibility when communicating with kids.