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Kidfluencers

10/5/2019

21 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Do you remember doing ‘connect the dots’ as a kid?  You probably liked seeing a picture appear as you drew lines from one number to the next.  Today’s online influencer marketing makes it difficult even for adults to connect the dots between product users and corporate sponsors.  Imagine how hard it is for kids, who some companies intentionally target, to put together a picture of that influence. 
 
Influencer marketing, or influence marketing, “is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placements from influencers, people and organizations who possess an expert level of knowledge and/or social influence in their respective fields.”
 
Although influencer marketing has been around for ages with celebrities (movie stars, TV personalities, famous athletes, etc.) endorsing products, it’s different now because social media have democratized the process.  Now anyone with a significant following on Instagram or other popular platform can become a paid product ambassador.
 
One of the most popular influencers is a 7-year old named Ryan Kaji who has an astounding 32.3 billion views on his YouTube channel Ryan Toy Review.  His 21.7 million subscribers ‘tune in’ to watch him unpack and play with a wide variety of toys provided by sponsors such as Hasbro and Walmart.

However, Ryan’s YouTube channel is just part of his ever-expanding commercial influence.  His parents also record Ryan and his younger siblings’ visits to commercial tourist attractions, like Legoland California, for Ryan’s Family Review.  In addition, Ryan stars in a Nickelodeon cable and online series called Ryan’s Mystery Playdate.  Other signs of his great popularity  are branded products, including a “a Ryan Kaji action figure, T-shirts and a plastic dinnerware set.”


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Ryan Kaji is far from the only “Kidfluencer”; however, and he’s not close to the youngest.  For instance, a four-year old named Samia has over 203,000 YouTube subscribers and 143,000 followers on Instagram, where she attracts paid promotions from HomeStyle Harvest chicken nuggets and Crayola, among other brands.
 
Then there’s Kyle Fisher’s two-year-old identical twins, Taytum and Oakley, who have over 2 million Instagram followers.  Advertisers like Mattel pay between $10,000 and $20,000 to sponsor a single post featuring Fisher’s daughters.
 
Of course, children have long been cast in commercials, which many of us older adults remember when we were kids.  Who can forget young actor Tommy Okon asking Pittsburgh Steeler Mean Joe Greene, “Do you want my Coke?”   There are some important differences, however, with today’s Kidfluencers.
 
First, the Internet is still like the ‘Wild West’ in terms ‘lawlessness.’  Thanks to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), advertisers on television and radio must abide by rules that separate program content (the show) from commercial content (the ads) and that limit a character’s or program host’s use of promotions or product placement, but the Internet has no such restrictions.
 
So, there’s not much to stop the families of Kidfluencers from blurring the lines between programs and ads.  Unlike when we watch traditional television that has distinct commercial breaks, online media often blend the two together such that influencers like Ryan Kaji are playing with and promoting sponsored products at the same time.
 
That blending leads to the second issue, mentioned above.  Even adults can have a hard time distinguishing an unbiased product user from a paid endorser.  Kids often have no concept that another child might only be playing with a toy online because his/her family received it for free or because they’re being paid to promote the product.
 
Children tend to take what they see and hear at face value.  They’re unfamiliar with the notion of ulterior motives.  As a result, kids can be easily misled.
 
I gained a sense of this vulnerability while teaching classes in Advertising Ethics for about a decade.  Each year I was able to have my college students spend a little time talking with much younger students (sometimes just 4-6 years old) about advertising.  Although the kindergarten-age kids could recognize almost any consumer-products brand from its logo, very few could explain what advertising was or why we had it.
 
Josh Golin, the executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, affirmed those observations by saying that it’s not until they’re 8 or 9 years old that most children recognize advertising.  Similarly, in a complaint it filed against Ryan Toy Review, the nonprofit organization Truth in Advertising contended that preschoolers can’t differentiate an unbiased product review from a commercial.
 
Deception of young consumers isn’t the only potential ethical issue involving Kidfluencers.  There’s the question of whether it’s right for parents to make their children promote products and whether such promotion constitutes work that might be subject to child labor laws.
 
But, back to the original issue:  Although, Kidfluencers are very effective at ‘moving product,’ the deception used to accomplish those ends plays on the inexperience of some of society’s most vulnerable consumers--children.  So, connecting the dots, the use of kids to influence the consumer behavior of other kids makes a picture of “Single-Minded Marketing.”
 

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21 Comments
Annie Bristow link
10/31/2019 10:45:18 pm

Before this blog post I had never heard of the term "kidfluencer". However, with today's society and an abundance of "influencers" on multiple social media platforms, the term itself does not shock me. It does seem in poor taste to have the kids be promoting products for profit when the viewers themselves will likely not be able to differentiate what is the content of the video and what is the product promotion. Trying to think from Ryan and his family's perspective, there really is not to be any expected harm done if they are profiting off of their YouTube videos. However, the means by getting the profit (through the innocence of children and their fairly easy ability to be influenced) is somewhat a grey area. I agree with Hagenbuch's conclusion that "kidfluencers" are single-minded in the Mindful Matrix.

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Luke Nichols
11/2/2019 02:49:24 pm

Even though I am aware that there are Kidfluencers, I did not know that some of these Kidfluencers are as popular as they are. I think the most interesting and shocking thing of this article was about the Instagram posts from these Kidfluencers. Some of them make anywhere in between $10000 and $20000 per Instagram advertisement post. I was aware that famous people on Instagram did profit from using advertisements. However, I was unaware about how much money some of these advertisements were per advertisement post. Another thing I thought was interesting was about the child-labor laws. These kids are debatably "working" and the family is getting paid because of this. However, I found this article very interesting and I learned a lot about this subject I was unaware of beforehand.

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Taylor Clark
11/2/2019 05:51:05 pm

The issue with using children as influencers for a company is that the dishonesty targets both the children seeing the advertisement and the children in the advertisement. Rather than targeting advertisements to adults, who have some sense of when they are being advertised to, these companies prey on vulnerable children who trust everything they hear. This should be considered dishonest and predatory; however, because so many companies do this for advertising nowadays, very rarely is it viewed as something immoral.

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Kenneth Jung
11/4/2019 02:51:57 pm

This blog was very interesting to me because I experienced a handful of funerals whether it be for my loved ones and for people I know. But I honesty had no idea that "live streaming" funerals for someone who is not a celebrity was allowed in general because it can be seen as "disrespectful" to some especially the ones who are grieving. However, at the same time I also think that live streaming a funeral from different social media accounts isn't really a bad idea after all since live recordings can track who is watching at the moment and can allow viewers who cannot physically make it to the funeral/viewing to still pay their respect by commenting in the live feed. Therefore, utilizing this technology in this already digitalized world can be beneficial for those who cannot physically attend the funeral, as they can still pay respect online. But that should not stop everyone from physically attending as being there in person is the ideal way.

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Kenneth Jung
11/4/2019 04:23:16 pm

Oops... This comment was supposed to be for "Live Streaming Funerals." Sorry about that.

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Bella Starlin
11/5/2019 02:14:47 pm

It's interesting to consider kidfluencers because of how new the concept seems. Although your blog mentioned the existence of such marketing by little children even before today, the public doesn't usually associate little children with paid promotion. Therefore, it increases the trustworthiness that is perceived by the audience. Not only are people more inclined to believe a child because children are the epitome of innocence, the blog also discusses about the target audience of children promotions who are unaware of the concept of a paid promotion.

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Gabrielle Morris link
11/5/2019 05:48:47 pm

I never noticed until reading this blog post how much child influencers make, especially if they are as big as some are. Through platforms like Nickelodeon and Disney, some kids can become big. It is fascinating reading about how it doesn’t matter what age you are, you can get thusands of followers if you have a good platform. There can be some issues with marketing with these young children because of how they don’t yet have a grasp on all this can intel. They will be all over the internet and that can sometimes be scary. I kept thinking about that when reading the blog post because they may be making tons of money by being on tv and selling products on the side, that is a lot for a child. Children can really sell a product because of how adults think it is cute and adorable. In addition, kids like it because they see that another kid has the same product.

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Hannah Edwards
11/5/2019 07:58:19 pm

Before reading this article, I had no idea the following and impact kid influencers have. I do not know why I am still surprised since 'influencers' is such a big deal right now on most media platforms. Maybe it is the fact that little kids have a following, even though they may not understand the concept of being an influencer themselves. I can see how ethical issues can come out of this, and I wonder when there will be more regulations on media platforms about influencers, especially regarding the age limit.

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Michael Sossy link
11/5/2019 08:53:03 pm

I think that when it comes to kids marketing and advertising should be done differently. We have all noticed that toddlers are amused at the game 'peek-a-boo' because they lack object permanence. According to this article it has confirmed my hunch that for kids it is kind of a similar principle. Kids lack the capacity to see ulterior motives and with research that has the ability to create campaigns that can motivate grown-ups I think they can make campaigns that can manipulate kids. They do not know what is real and what is hyperbole and it can create false wants and senses of reality. They can recognize the brand but fail to know what marketing and advertising is.

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Kathryn Webster
11/6/2019 12:04:06 am

While I have not heard the term kidfluencer, I have of course come across its tracks. I never thought much of it, just that it was odd my nieces were watching videos of a kid playing with toys instead of actually playing with their own toys. I absolutely agree that this type of marketing is immoral and targets a crowd of vulnerable people. Hopefully in the future there will be better policies in place to protect this vulnerable demographic.

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Madisyn Steiner
11/6/2019 01:50:38 pm

I have heard of "Kidfluencers" (not the term) and seen many instances of children being the face of advertising via social media. This is especially true on Instagram; I stumble upon "family" Instagram accounts that mainly promote brands in their posts. I even had friends who tried to dip their toes in the "Kidfluencer" pool by intentionally partnering with small brands and posting images of their children with the product.

I had not thought of the psychology of a child in regard to advertising. It is disturbing that kids are being fed advertising almost everywhere, but are unable to understand why. It is simply what they know. Additionally, I take issue with brands that think its okay for a child to have such a huge public platform. There are untrustworthy people out there, and I personally would not take a payment from a brand if it meant I had to put my child's identity out there. I wonder when enough will be enough? Hopefully sooner than later.

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Breanne Winic
11/7/2019 01:50:41 am

Before reading this blog, I had never heard of a "Kidfluencer" or what they were. I knew that often-times marketers will use kids in their advertisements, but I never knew that the official name for what these child actors were, werer kidfluencers. I think that it's legal that "kidinfluencers" be used however, I think that it's crucial that the public don't associate little children with paid promotion.

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Kyuri Yum
11/7/2019 02:19:11 am

As social media becomes so predominant in our lives, so does it for the kids. Under the management of their parents, I am utterly amazed by how powerful young, children demographics of target market can influence and be so profitable from social media. Youtube has definitely partaken a huge role of this growing children’s target market, that it is no longer the parents that choose what a child would like, but a child is deciding what they want to watch and giving their voices and preferences quantitatively(number of viewers and subscribers).

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Catharina Jessica Hartanto
11/7/2019 02:12:05 pm

Kidfluencer: From this post on the blog, we can see that first, they explain what influencer marketing is. They explained “ Influencer marketing, “is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placements from influencers, people and organizations who possess an expert level of knowledge and/or social influence in their respective fields.” so that people understand the meaning and concept. After that, they showed one of the most popular influencers, which is a young kid ad His name is Kaji. Kaji has a youtube channel and he also stars in nickelodeon which is a big deal. Since he has a strong impact and a lot of influencers, therefore, a lot of people want to endorse him with his products. In this blog, they said that children are unfamiliar with the notion of ulterior motives, and that can cause kids are easily misled. To sum it up, the use of kid’s influence the consumer behavior is a “single-minded marketing”

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Kiana Meriales
11/8/2019 02:05:53 am

This blog post discusses the "kidfluencers" and how much of an influence the kidfluencers have on the adolescence of the youth. Social media plays a big role on how people influence others. Through youtube videos, children like Ryan Kaji and Fisher daughters are able to advertise and promote toys and other products. Another issue was if it is ethical to pay children to promote advertisement. This questions the ethics of kidfluencers because is it truly right for a kid to be paid to advertise products? Is the comments and reaction genuine? Overall, this blog post gave me insight on the effectiveness and ethics of kidfluences.

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Will Prichard
11/8/2019 09:34:40 pm

I have seen and heard of kid influencers before. I often think wow how lucky these kids are to have money flowing into their bank accounts at such a young age. This post talks a lot about how these kids influence customers and as well how they gain money from their toy reviews and following. I wasn't aware of how much money these kids and influencers are making. what I found most disturbing and interesting though is the fact that these kids are being taken advantage of and really have no choice in their career it feels like. As a kid, your parents tell you what is good and what is fun and I question if the kids are actually enjoying what they're doing. These influencers should be interviewed and maybe you required to go through a few legal interviews to make sure these kids are not being taken advantage of and that they AR okay with what is going on truly.

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Madi Moyer
12/11/2019 01:34:16 pm

I thought this article was really interesting. I've heard of Ryan's Toy Review and before this only really considered it to be a source of entertainment and fun for the family to be uploading those kind of videos. I never realized how much money the family makes for posting. I would agree that this is single-minded marketing in terms of children viewing this videos are easily impressionable and would not know the difference between a program and an ad. I think it's also important to note that the children that are in these advertisements, Ryan for example, may be taken advantage of and not know they are taking part in a form of advertisement. It would also be interesting to look at how these children function when reaching a older age. Do they have the same cognitive skills as others or is becoming "internet famous" affecting the ways in which they can connect and understand children of their similar age?

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Joshua Soliday
1/11/2020 08:04:26 pm

While reading this blog post I wasn’t aware of how much child influencers are used today. It makes sense to use children to be able to influence others into buying the product that they are representing. Children can be easily manipulated since they don’t have any experience dealing with companies trying to get them to buy their products. The other thing that really stuck out when reading this blog post was the child-labor laws, which is particularly not a good thing. This can go into some debate, but I feel like the kids are working and the family then just receives the profits. Like it said in the post that each kid received about $10,000 to $20,000 for an Instagram post. I do agree that the "Kidfluences" are single-minded according to the Mindful Matrix. This article was very interesting and was helpful to learn more about really goes on with these children.

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Rebekah Adams
1/12/2020 03:28:50 pm

I found this blog post to be very relevant because I have been seeing more and more children on social media becoming so popular to the point where they are getting paid to do advertisements which is very shocking to hear. Companies are using these children to advertise their products when they very well don’t know how advertisements work. I feel like there are a lot of parents who put their kids in these positions just so that they can profit off of them. Children who are very young and do not understand the scope of the Internet are being placed on a pedestal and being exposed to millions of people. They haven't developed enough to decide whether being an influencer or being famous is actually what they want or not. I've seen far too many situations, mostly on Youtube, of children being in family vlogs when they clearly do not want to be in it and I'm afraid of what the parents intentions are with putting their kids into the spotlight like this. Of course there are exceptions, but also there can be parents who have realized how much money they can make off of their children and continue to exploit them for money which is an awful thing to think about. This could also lead to many problems for the children when they grow older when they realize that they don’t want to be a public figure. I do agree that this is single-minded marketing because I don’t believe it upholds societal values.

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David Brezina
1/28/2020 05:01:26 pm

Kidfluencers, how children are making money as profession influencers. This is absurd to me, how someone so young, who has almost no perception of how the world actually works is influencing so many other people. This is made accessible now adays through public social media, sites like Instagram and YouTube, these children can reach so many. I do not completely disagree with this idea but I do think that a best way to get insights on children’s toys are children but I do disagree with the premise of children being so young being used for a large corporations gain. Companies I feel are taking advantage of these children’s persona which is not ok, especially when they don’t know what any of this means. I do not think companies should do this by indorsing them so heavily and controlling some of the balance of these children’s lives.

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Khloe Duffy link
10/29/2020 02:00:46 pm

I do not like Ryin

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