I’m thankful my eldest was born a decade ago. But I wish I could say the same about my youngest. Let me explain.
Our firstborn was three when we stumbled across ‘In the Night Garden.’ Soon we were all hooked, and it became part of her bedtime routine. We watched the CBeebies show together as it explored the hazy time between being awake and sleeping. It captivated us with its colorful characters and dreamlike music.
Children’s TV vs. Streamed Content
When it comes to media, I consider us lucky she was a tot before Google exploited a growing army of kid’s influencers by launching Youtube Kids in 2015.
Instead, when she was small, our tv only had one setting: Cbeebies — created for little learners from 1 to 6. The children’s public station was founded in 2002 to let preschoolers explore a world with non-violent and age-appropriate educational content. Also, it doesn’t show any ads.
Fast forward to now, and with device use rampant among toddlers, tv shows with educational intent are far from the only content they digest.
Considering 80% of US parents saying their child under 11 watches Youtube, there is a chance a large part of their screen viewing consists of commercially flavored content. Think videos of kids unboxing presents and opening surprise eggs, toy-review clips, and children playing video games.
Unboxing videos are on the rise.
Recent CU Boulder research shows that 78% of children watch unboxing videos regularly, with 17% consuming between three and nine hours of unboxing videos every week.
Take Ryan’s World; with a mindboggling 29 million subscribers, it’s one of the most popular Youtube channels showing videos of a nine-year-old boy unboxing and playing with toys, netting him an estimated $29.5 million so far. (This figure doesn’t include revenue from his merchandising.)
Why do kids love influencers so much, and why should we care?
It’s easy to see why Ryan is popular with tiny viewers. My youngest (6) watched him, and she told me it felt like being on a play date with a fabulous friend.
Preschoolers view him as a buddy, and when they watch him on a loop-they feel a bigger attachment to him than to a celebrity advertising a toy.
If you’re old enough, you might remember watching the A-Team and wanting to be part of the gang because our tv shows gave us stories we could make our own. My eldest went through the same thing, with Octonauts and Mr. Bean the most popular ones when she was six.
However, in my now 6-year-old’s classroom, Youtubers are the new stars. Kids talk and dress like them, but they mainly want the toys they unbox.
Insidious marketing is a profitable business.
Youtube Kids’ and TikTok’s algorithms expose kids to an unlimited amount of commercially tinted videos without any educational intent. For Youtube, this has been a profitable strategy, seeing as their revenue from children’s media is estimated between $500 million and $750 million per year.
However, Youtube Kids has a policy banning thinly disguised exercises in product placement masquerading as videos for kids. But, Josh Golin, the executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CFFC), points out that this policy doesn’t get strictly enforced. He argues:
“We have seen cases on YouTube Kids where we know that there was paid product placement. We don’t know where the breakdown of the system occurs — whether the creator didn’t disclose or whether YouTube’s algorithm isn’t working. Both are possible.”
Then there is TikTok, with plenty of Gen Z influencers dancing their way into riches, promoting brands like Oreo’s, Burger King, and Hollister. The number of followers plays a big part in their earning potential; however, brands increasingly focus on levels of engagement.
In contrast, it is illegal for regular kids’ TV programs to show product placement, because it takes advantage of kids’ trust.
Parents, this rule does not apply on the Internet.
The lack of consumer protection is concerning because children’s brains are not fully developed, making our kids more vulnerable to insidious marketing than adults.
How does commercialism affect kids?
So we know there is a steady stream of marketing messages aimed at our children via influencers on YouTube Kids. And with profits the primary driver of advertisers, manufacturers, and big Tech, our children are just a pawn.
According to the CFFC, there is a clear relationship between advertising, materialism, and wellbeing, impacting our children’s values, how they interact with others, and their play.
Materialism affects mental wellbeing.
Researchers say materialism has been rising steadily.
And it is no secret among psychologists that materialism is, all else being equal, detrimental to psychological wellbeing. Findings show: the more people focus on acquiring wealth, possession, and status, the more likely they are to be unhappy, regardless of age or culture.
Even preschoolers judge other kids as popular or unpopular based on the brands they use.
Explaining his CU Boulder findings, Harsha Gangadharbatla, an associate professor of Advertising, Public Relations, and Media Design says:
“We’re concerned that the unboxing phenomenon could be grooming an entire generation of children to get addicted to highly consumeristic purchasing behavior from a very young age,”
Studies indicate that overall, children who are more materialistic than their peers:
- have lower levels of life satisfaction.
- perform worse in school (with materialistic children tending to be more interested in appearing to be successful than with learning new stuff).
- are less interested in conserving our planet.
- are less likely to want to share.
So how can we counterbalance influencers’ influence?
YouTube and TikTok influencers are not the only factors in children’s material values. Parents and peers play the most significant part. As children get older, studies have found happy children with healthy self-esteem and supportive parents are less vulnerable to consumerist values.
But, if you are concerned influencers are taking over your child’s viewing, here’s what you can do.
Five easy steps
- Consider your child’s media diet for a week, and sit down with her to see what she enjoys watching.
- Filter content: focus on streaming sites and tv channels without influencers or ads such as Netflix. And check out Cbeebies and other public tv stations. Find videos with prosocial content, and content reflecting a diverse range of characters, or look here for a helpful guide to finding safe streaming videos.
- If she loves Youtube Kids, why not let her watch it on your smart tv, with an adult present. Also, remove recommendations on Youtube.
- Talk about how influencers are only interested in selling stuff (toys-she doesn’t need.) and talk to her about what values are important to your family.
- Practice gratitude daily by keeping a gratitude journal. This study found that fostering an appreciation for the people and things in kids’ lives can decrease materialism.
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Previously Published on Medium
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