Stop Targeted Advertising to Kids
Children are bombarded with advertising online, much of it precision targeted and highly manipulative.
This new reality for children has emerged without societal consent or effective regulation. Virtually no rules exist to apply to what is an enormous and growing part of children’s daily lives. We don’t think that’s OK, and we’re determined to change it.
The following organisations are members of the Stop Targeted Advertising to Kids coalition:
The Problem:
The lucrative, barely regulated world of targeted ‘behavioural’ online advertising is central to the promotion of 21st century consumerism. Children are targeted in increasingly sophisticated ways with adverts that are tailored specifically for them based on large amounts of sensitive personal information.
Children are particularly vulnerable to this invasive and highly manipulative marketing: they are more susceptible to the pressures of marketing, less likely to recognise paid-for content, and less likely to understand how and what kinds of data are used for these purposes than adults. The materialistic values expressed and reinforced in most adverts are damaging to children’s wellbeing and to the environment.
The scale of change required to address the environmental crises we face is incompatible with our consumer culture. Curbing consumerism is not possible without addressing excessive advertising.
What do we want?
Websites popular with children should:
- Comply with the law and stop targeting under 13s
- Turn off targeting for under 18s
- Cap ads to 10% of social media content
We have authored a joint letter with lawyers, academics, clinicians, privacy campaigners, children’s rights advocates and environment groups, demanding major tech firms turn off targeted advertising to under 18s. The letter warns that firms are breaking EU and UK law if they process under 13s data for advertising purposes.
This letter follows the £2.5bn lawsuit against Google in which the tech giant is accused of illegally data mining 5 million under 13s in UK on YouTube for advertising purposes. Global Action Plan is advising Duncan McCann, the representative claimant in the lawsuit.
To hear more about this campaign and to receive regular updates, please sign up to the Stop Targeted Advertising to Kids Campaign Newsletter.
In detail
The explosion of unregulated, targeted online advertising and the urgent need to address it presents an opportunity to reflect on the ethics of advertising to children in general.
Read more about our work to reduce targeted advertising to children in our position paper "Kids for Sale: Online Advertising and the manipulation of children".
Kids Not Consumers
Are you a parent, guardian or teacher concerned about the bombardment of young children with adverts? We want to work with you.
To learn more about our campaign, please contact [email protected]
Kids for Sale? Children & Digital Advertising
One in three internet users world-wide are children. In the UK, 43% of 11-year-olds who go online say they have a social media profile. Yet virtually none of the services popular with children are ad-free.
On 15 September we convened an international panel of experts to consider online marketing to children, its impacts, and what can be done to limit it.
To get involved with our wellbeing work, email Natasha Parker
To get involved with our wellbeing work, email Natasha Parker
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