Your views on children as peer-to-peer marketers

[KatieMumsnet]

Agnes Nairn, a Business School Professor and co-author of Consumer Kids, will be responding to a review on marketing practices using children and would love to hear your views and of any experiences you've had.

Last July the Bailey Review, Letting Children be Children recommended to government that "the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and other advertising and marketing bodies should urgently explore whether, as many parents believe, the advertising self-regulatory codes should prohibit the employment of children under the age of 16 as brand ambassadors or in peer-to-peer marketing - where people are paid, or paid in kind, to promote products, brands and services."

An example of this would be when Mattel recruited 7 year old girls online to promote Barbie Girls MP3 players to their friends and gave them rewards based on the intensity of their marketing activity. Or the 7 year old twins recently employed by Weetabix to promote the cereal ?on their most active days.? These recruitment activities are sometimes online where children are given incentives to 'like'? products on Facebook or write positive blogs and comments about a brand.

In response to the Bailey Review, some parts of the advertising industry have created a voluntary best practice code but CAP has just launched a review to find out if the ban should be formally put into its self-regulatory code along with the other advertising rules and regulations.

· Should this ban be part of the advertising self-regulatory code (which means industry, including the Advertising Standards Authority) imposes sanctions on companies who break the ban)?

· Should it be completely illegal?

· Should there just be a voluntary code which promotes a ban but does not enforce it?

· Or should there be no ban at all?

· What do you think about under 16s promoting products in this way?

Isn't it even worse that they are expected to PAY to become a billboard?

Yes it should be illegal. It seems a very underhanded way to go about promoting a product if you ask me. To the point where if I found out which companies were doing this I would boycott them.

I think peer to peer marketing to children(i.e. we will give you free stuff if you put pressure on your friends to do something they wouldn't otherwise do) is very, very wrong. It's questionable when people do this kind of marketing with adults and beyond the pale with children. The mind boggles that anybody would think this would be an acceptable practice.

yes it should definitely be illegal.... it's a revolting, underhand practice.

I think is is awful and should be illegal. I would be horrified if a child of mine was involved.

Absolutely and completely unacceptable, and yes, it should be illegal.

If I ever discovered a product or company engaging in such a practice I would not only boycott said product, I would actively (and publicly) campaign against it. I would also boycott the company.

Children do not understand marketing, advertising or PR. As such, it is exploitative to use them for such purposes.

Disgusting.

Awful. Highly manipulative, promoting over-valuing of materialism, divisive and just generally shite. Ban it.

Just so very , very wrong. I would certainly refuse to buy from any company that I knew to be using peer to peer marketing.

It's unbelievable unethical, but I can't see how it can be stopped. I can't see how the legislation could be enforced.

I would boycott any company that used this tactic. Adults can make an informed choice about this stuff, but for children it is out and out exploitation in my opinion.

It should be illegal.

All advertisement aimed at children should be illegal. It is like that in Norway. NO advertisements on children s tv. It is illegal to aim advertisements on children both on tv and online. This means that Moviestarplanet and other such sites are coming under scrutiny.

Under 16s should NOT be involved in any marketing activities.

hmm. we applied to do the online review (videoed) of the toys a while back, and there was a film on mumsnet showing my sons playing with a castle we received. I think kids advertising stuff is fine, i think i would object to them being paid / incentivised to direct this at individuals.
how can they 'like' things on facebook anyway, if they are under 13?
Very difficult - kids get paid to model clothes for general advertising - i guess where they aren't just a face on a screen or page but are bringing their personality into it, it crosses a line.

This should be completely illegal imo.

It should be illegal.

Absolutely awful, what about bullied children, who will feel that getting these things will stop the bullying (which of course it won't, but not getting them may make the bullying worse)

MNHQ -will you be sending CAP and the relevant department a link to this thread? The view seems almost universal that this practice is despised by parents and should be illegal. Legislation is the domain of Government, not industry-funded bodies.

I think peer-to-peer marketing by children should be completely illegal. BUT if the government refuses to legislate, it should at the very least be part of the advertising self-regulatory code so that regulators can impose sanctions on companies that breach any ban.

It is entirely wrong and unethical for companies to exploit children at all but especially for financial gain.