Smith, S. orcid.org/0000-0003-0375-7327, Oates, C.J. orcid.org/0000-0001-8848-9178 and McLeay, F. orcid.org/0000-0001-6732-9589 (2024) Slimy tactics: the covert commercialisation of child-targeted content. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 32 (3). pp. 304-316. ISSN 0965-254X
Abstract
There are growing concerns about the commercialisation of childhood and the consequences of marketing to children, including marketing’s negative effects and increasingly sophisticated and potentially deceptive online tactics that permeate the contemporary media environment. Children and young people are prolific users of video-sharing platforms (VSP) such as TikTok and YouTube, yet little is known about children’s advertising literacy within these contexts. Therefore, this paper answers recent calls for a deeper understanding of children’s advertising literacy in light of their increasingly digital lifestyles. A combination of qualitative, participatory creative methods were used with children aged 9–11 from the UK. Findings show that despite their negative perceptions of online advertising, children place a level of trust in video-sharing platforms, based on a misconception that the commercialisation of content is always disclosed. This is concerning because children may prefer and pay more attention to content that they believe to be genuine.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
Keywords: | Young consumers; embedded marketing; qualitative research; marketing to children; socially responsible marketing; video-sharing platforms; advertising literacy |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Economic and Social Research Council 2100329 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 16 Jun 2023 11:39 |
Last Modified: | 04 Oct 2024 12:07 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Informa UK Limited |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/0965254x.2023.2218855 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:200410 |
Download
Filename: Slimy tactics the covert commercialisation of child targeted content.pdf
Licence: CC-BY 4.0