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Kids' Apps Are Flooded With Ads (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Those cute little apps your child plays with are most likely flooded with ads -- some of which are totally age-inappropriate, researchers have found. A stunning 95 percent of commonly downloaded apps that are marketed to or played by children age five and under contain at least one type of advertising, according to a new report in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. And that goes for the apps labeled as educational, too, researchers say. Often the ads are intrusive, spread across in a banner or even interrupting play, said study coauthor Dr. Jenny Radesky, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan C. S. Mott Children's Hospital.
Perhaps the most insidious ads are the ones you need to click a little "x" to get rid of, Radesky said. "The little 'x' doesn't show up for about 20 seconds," she explained. "If you're a 2- or 3-year-old you might think the ad is a part of the game. And you don't know what to do. You might click on the ad and that could take you to the app store. Many of these ads require you to do things before the 'x' will appear." Some ads are for products that aren't appropriate for kids, Radesky said. "I've seen banner ads for bipolar treatment in some of these apps," she added. One of the problems with these ads is that kids often can't tell where the game leaves off and the ad begins. "There's science to show that children aged 8 and younger can't distinguish between media content and advertising," Radesky said.
The researchers surveyed 135 of the most downloaded free and paid apps in the "age five and under" category in the Google Play store and found that 95 percent of them "contained at least one type of advertising, which included use of popular cartoon characters to sell products, teasers suggesting the purchase of the 'full' version of the app, and advertising videos that interrupted play to promote in-app purchases or purchases of other products," reports Reuters.
Perhaps the most insidious ads are the ones you need to click a little "x" to get rid of, Radesky said. "The little 'x' doesn't show up for about 20 seconds," she explained. "If you're a 2- or 3-year-old you might think the ad is a part of the game. And you don't know what to do. You might click on the ad and that could take you to the app store. Many of these ads require you to do things before the 'x' will appear." Some ads are for products that aren't appropriate for kids, Radesky said. "I've seen banner ads for bipolar treatment in some of these apps," she added. One of the problems with these ads is that kids often can't tell where the game leaves off and the ad begins. "There's science to show that children aged 8 and younger can't distinguish between media content and advertising," Radesky said.
The researchers surveyed 135 of the most downloaded free and paid apps in the "age five and under" category in the Google Play store and found that 95 percent of them "contained at least one type of advertising, which included use of popular cartoon characters to sell products, teasers suggesting the purchase of the 'full' version of the app, and advertising videos that interrupted play to promote in-app purchases or purchases of other products," reports Reuters.
Smartphones are in serious need of a thriving open source ecosystem.
my almost 4 year old year old clicks skip, and clicks x''s on Ads
Adult apps are riddled with ads. Why is anyone surprised kids apps are as well? Why anyone would be deploying apps to children without playing enough of it to get a feel for how much junk it pumps should be beyond me, but considering how many parents just hand these things off as virtual babysitters without a second thought, sadly it is not. Pile on the fact that the populous seems to be blind to intrusive, oversaturating and pervasive advertising and it's not really shocking at all.
Pony up for quality content, or enjoy your child getting indoctrinated. If you're not paying for the product, you are the product, and so is your child.
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My 4 year inherited an old phone that had literally nothing but the youtube app so he could watch stuff. Within a day there was a couple games on it and within a week there was loads. Now it has all kinds of pop up shit and ad loaded screensavers going on. There's no payment or personal information or anything on it, it was wiped before he got it so whats the harm really but it is mad the amount of shit that can get on them. Before that he managed to subscribe to some service via a one touch thing on youtube on the wifes phone. I never let him touch mine.
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NYT: "In apps marketed for children 5 and under in the Google Play store, there were pop-up ads with disturbing imagery. There were ads that no child could reasonably be expected to close out of, and which, when triggered, would send a player into more ads. Dancing treasure chests would give young players points for watching video ads, potentially endlessly. The vast majority of ads were not marked at all. Characters in childrenâ(TM)s games gently pressured the kids to make purchases, a practice known as host-selling, banned in childrenâ(TM)s TV programs in 1974 by the Federal Trade Commission. At other times an onscreen character would cry if the child did not buy something."
To preface, I was a dual major in college, chemistry and marketing. Granted this was a few years ago (graduated in 2006), but I remember a class studying marketing and associated laws to various age groups, and childrens ads had the least amount of regulation. There have been efforts, but all have failed so far.
If I recall, the companies fight against regulation aimed at marketing towards children higher than any other group because they can get a customer for life. There are some regulations on ads aimed at adults (alcohol, cigarettes, gambling in some states, etc.).
I hate fat people.
Honestly I don't think either. I think the researcher is giving her kids her phone. The ads are the same ads that are being served to the researcher on all of her AdSense supported apps based on her Google ads profile. I think the ads think that it's the researcher playing the kids games.
That was the point of my original comment.
Without the kids really realizing that getting $1.00 add ins that offer 10 minutes of mediocre enjoyment, could had been used somewhere else.
And the parent is insane if they allow their kid to use a smartphone or tablet that has instant In-App purchases enabled without typing in a secret passcode which the child does not have access to until they are older.
The only complaint I have is Apple should have clearer UI standards surrounding how Ads are permitted to display themselves.
Being required to interact with an Ad in an app or being required to watch for a period of time before closing the Ad is allowed should never be permitted
(Apps that do ought to be rejected from the app store), Mandatory video ads can play only if the user specifically
picked a command to play optional Video or Audio, and the ad is contained within the video, and while the Ad is playing the user has a working option displayed on screen to stop playing the video/go back or rewind/fast-forward at any point in time.
On-screen ads should be clearly marked as "Sponsored Offer for Goods or Services,"
and Audio/Video ads should always be preceded by a message such as "The following is a Sponsored Offer or Advertisement to encourage the purchase of 3rd party goods or services."
When an Ad is displayed on screen, an "X" button for clearing/hiding the ad should be required to be shown at all times.