When the topic of ethics and emerging media combine into one conversation, the focus quickly becomes one involving the threats to children from online marketing. In 2005, The Center for Media Education (CME) completed a major investigation of online advertising and marketing practices directed at children. The investigation uncovered a number of disturbing new practices including the invasion of children’s privacy through solicitation of personal information and tracking of online computer use plus, the exploitation of vulnerable, young computer users through new unfair and deceptive forms of advertising ( Hartman, 2005).
According to the book titled “Perspectives in Business Ethics”, the following five principles should guide the development of regulations for online advertising and marketing to children:
1. Personal information (including clickstream data) should not be collected from children, nor should children’s personal information be sold.
2. Advertising and promotions targeted at children should be clearly labeled and separated from content.
3. Children’s content areas should not be directly linked to advertising sites.
4. There should be no direct interaction between children and product spokescharacters.
5. There should be no online microtargeting of children and no direct-response marketing.
The framework for the proposed development regulations mentioned above originate from the Federal Communications Commission rules the (1) require “separators” between children programs and commercials; (2) forbid the host of a children’s show from pitching products at children; and (3) limit the amount of advertising time in children’s programs (Hartman, 2005).
Now, let’s take a couple of minutes to listen to an interview with Lucy Hughes on the topic of “Marketing to Children”
Hartman’s frameworks for online marketing ethics definitely collide with the comments made by Lucy Hughes. Marketing to children for the sole purpose of getting them to nag their parents is definitely an ethical gray area. In today’s complex media environment, many companies (like breakfast cereal manufacturers) have now created websites or, “branded environments” that beckons children to come and play. Although some of the information contained in these sites appears to be geared toward adult consumers, many sites are clearly designed for children. These sites, which have the potential to occupy a child’s attention for extended periods playing games or coloring fun characters, inherently leads to an elevated sense of brand loyalty plus, increased product awareness.
So now, it’s your turn to add some comments on the topic of ethics and online marketing! What are some guidelines your company uses to avoid ethical dilemmas? One very simple recommendation I have is best expressed by Joe Nicassio’s video titled “Business Ethics 101”.
Update on last weeks project involving BlogRush. BlogRush has strict entrance requirements including a minimum of 10 to 12 quality posts. This makes my 7th posting on this new blog and therefore doesn’t qualify at this time. BlogRush does encourage me to resubmit this blog in thirty days – a task I plan to accomplish. Until then, I’ll continue to search for other innovative ways to grow interest and participation in this blog. Any comments or recommendations are welcome. Again, thanks for reading!
Dan
http://segment-specific-media.blogspot.com/
References:
Hartman, L.P. (2005). Perspectives in Business Ethics, 3rd Ed. McGraw-Hill Irwin New York, N.Y.
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