Use of children in advertising

[stilldazed]

AIBU to be horrified by the blatant use of children to advertise products that Instagram mums will profit from.

Mrs Meldrum is currently using her children to advertise a holiday company.

When will legislation come in to stop this, how is it acceptable?

I'm not getting frothy at what other parents do as long as they aren't hurting their kids.
maybe they have money in a trust for them, perhaps it's going towards a house or uni.
I don't blame them at all.
There are plenty children working and earning from modelling, advertising, dancing, music, should they not do any of these things.

but details of their everyday life are put on the internet where they will form part of the child's digital foot print that will be with them for life!
Children being aware from an early age of their presence in social media and how mant 'likes' they get...the effect this has on their mental health.

it's not the same as modeling a t-shirt in a catalogue.
we are talking about their real lives!!

columnists who regularly plunder their childrens lives for amusing anecdotes at their expense.

This causes me much more concern than instamums, I think this is a real invasion of privacy.

But Mrs meldrum taking her kids on a fab holiday which will be a great and happy experience for them and in return posting a handful of (fully clothed and routine) snaps, same as you would find in any catalogue, and saying ‘thanks Thomas cook’ doesn’t strike me as being child abuse.

AuntBeastie - only time will tell the true impact this will have on children....it's all just one big experiment

That’s literally true of everything. The invention of tv, new curriculums, attachment parenting, forest schools, fortnite, mobile phones and iPads, co-sleeping, nominated persons, child psychology. It’s all an experiment, and there is no evidence that instagramming your kids is inherently more harmful than anything else children experience as a result of living in an inevitably changing world.

hardly the same...just a few risks are:

cyber bullying
identification theft
cyber stalking
emotional damage

all proven side effects, why would you risk that? so as not to have to work a 9-5??

I'm glad my dm didn't do it to me

Do you refuse to let your children go to school in case they get bullied? Or do you teach them how to be safe, get help if needed and protect themselves? And if the latter, why is the internet any different?

You can’t protect kids from ever engaging with social media. 99.9% of them will end up on it. All you can do is teach them to be safe, and I see no evidence that Mrs Meldrum is failing to do that.

And I disagree with your assessment that the list I gave is ‘hardly the same’. Everything we think we know is best for children is an experiment.

But how is Mrs Meldrum taking pictures and putting them on Instagram of her kids on holiday #sponsored any different from you posting pics of your kids on holiday #notsponsored ?

I share pics of my family on Instagram and don’t see how it could affect them. They are fully clothed pics of them smiling at the park, climbing a tree, with the cake they baked, sitting with the dog, etc. How will that affect their mental health? What kind of emotional damage will that cause?

Of course there are risks..

Why would you even take the chance...with your children!

Using them to advertise products, as your source of income, at the very least has to be a questionable parenting choice!

The fact that it is being defended is almost laugable

You didn't answer my question though. How and why will it affect their mental health? What kind of emotional damage could your mum sharing a picture of you on holiday cause?

That fact that there are people on here defending the monetization of children is beyond belief! How is this a legitimate option as opposed to getting a job!

To answer your question....just one example

Steinberg’s new paper, “Sharenting: Children’s Privacy in the Age of Social Media,”

"Child advocates in both the medical and behavioral arenas recognize that childhood well-being is not limited to traditional notions of health. Indeed, children who grow up with a sense of privacy, coupled with supportive and less controlling parents, fare better in life. Studies report these children have a greater sense of overall well-being and report greater life satisfaction than children who enter adulthood having experienced less autonomy in childhood. Children must be able to form their own identity and create their own sense of both private and public self to thrive as young people and eventually as adults."

Do you think no one should share pictures of their children on the internet then?

I don't understand why you would do it to the extent of making a full time job out of it. I think with as with anything, the more you do it the bigger the risks. I don't understand why any parent would make that choice.

We at not talking about the odd holiday snap, we are talking about children being used to sell products anything from drinks to pizza to jewelry.

Heismyopendoor are you, perhaps, deliberately missing the point?!

I wonder what will happen when the kids are no longer cute and little anymore. Are there accounts using teens to advertise in the same way?
Or what can the accounts move into after the kiddie stage is over, is there a next step or does it just stop?

Not missing the point at all.

I have lots of friends that post several pictures of their children each day on social media who are not getting paid for it. I don’t understand how that differs from what Mrs Meldrum is doing?

I also have friends with children that are very successful actors and models. Ads of them everywhere and they miss time off school and do a lot of traveling. But that’s ok and not the same as someone’s kid promoting a toy on instagram?

She closed her other YouTube channel, The Meldrums, because she felt they were sharing too much and too much of the kids.

She closed her other YouTube channel, The Meldrum's, because she felt they were sharing too much and too much of the kids.

HAHAHAHAHA

Closing the Meldrum's channel was a business decision.

Having 2 channels was diluting the audience. Closing the Meldrum's meant they would concentrate follows on the Mrs Meldrum channel therefore have more subscribers and command higher pay rates from advertisers.

Of course, it was all wrapped up in a polically correct message 'protecting the children" but I didn't think anyone believed it....

I dont know who the Meldrums are and hope I never find out.

That was the only thing you took from my post?

You seem to know a lot about her seen as you don't like her. Are you a follower?

You have already admitted that you are envious of her holidays etc.

jakethekid.....yes because that's the issue

I wonder what will happen when the kids are no longer cute and little anymore. Are there accounts using teens to advertise in the same way?
Or what can the accounts move into after the kiddie stage is over, is there a next step or does it just stop?

That's an interesting question, I follow all these instamums even though it's not really relevant to me as I have teens. I've never seen an instamum of teens account so it must stop. It's a time limited career then...unless they keep having babies.
I don't understand what the husbands do how can they both stay home all day making insta stories