Online Advertising Regulation

Companies are increasingly using Internet sites, advergames, viral marketing, video advertisements and banner advertisements to advertise their products. There are many possible ethical implications to this, considering the fact that the online ads are different in structure to traditional ads and often are under different regulations.

Research shows that children under the age of 11-12 can be unable to consciously register the fact that they are being advertised to, and therfore unable to have a fair chance of putting up a defense or processing the information sensibly. Regulation has severely restricted how TV ads can advertise sugary products and even toys to children, in light of this research. Online mediums often are not covered by the same regulations.This is why sugary cereals and soft drinks create advergames on their sites that are oriented towards kids, and feature brand characters. The web sites are often portrayed as cheery and 'fun-centres' and feature wallpapers, company newsletters and games that you can send to friends, and advertising material in much greater quantity than nutritional or product information. This allows for very blunt advertising that would be unacceptable in traditional media.

Studies of major companies show that most companies do not use the online medium to adequately show nutritional information about their product, or to protect the information children give out when playing competitive or viral games that can be sent to others. Information gathering for marketing purposes can be facilitated on web sites.

Should online advertising be subject to equally harsh regulations as traditional advertising, or is it a different beast? Should certain games and site areas require an age check ( a notification that it is not appropriate for people under 16 for e.g.). Should certain practices such as enhancing a game's features if a user enters in a code found on a product wrapper, be banned as pressure advertising? Is it different from TV promotions promising free gifts and raffles if you find a certain token in your cereal box? Playing a computer advergame is a solitary experience, while parents can supervise kids when watching TV. Even though a tv ad might offer advantatges for buying the product, one does not have to do so to watch the ad. Are advergames with functionality dependent on buying products, much worse than this?

Even adults who play advergames could be subject to offensive material. Could online ads get away with content that may be considered offensive or discriminatory on TV, print or radio? Certainly there could be lawsuits and community pressure against certain web sites, but the regulation is not as well developed.

An article you can find on the library website on children and advertising is:

Playing With Food: Content Analysis of Food Advergames
Mira Lee, Yoonhyeung Choi, Elizabeth Taylor Quilliam, Richard T Cole. The Journal of Consumer Affairs. Madison: Spring 2009. Vol. 43, Iss. 1; pg. 129, 26 pgs

One about an interesting survey of major companies and their websites is:

Analyzing advergames: active diversions or actually deception. An exploratory study of online advergames content

Stephan Dahl, Lynne Eagle, Carlos Báez. Young Consumers. Bradford: 2009. Vol. 10, Iss. 1; pg. 46



One last thing I have to contribute is a story about an advertisement disguised as a survey which I experienced online, which I think would have been considered sexist and exclusive if it was on another medium. I was on a video gaming review website where a site-developed survey popped up. I don't normally do these because I am wary of wasting time and being brought to strange sites, but it was obvious it was made by the site and I thought 'what the hey'; I was in a good mood and not busy.

The survey asked you a series of demographical questions beginning with 'what is your gender' , 'your age', 'how much do you play pc games', as well as questions about what kinds of games you play. If you were not the key demographic they were trying to survey the survey would end prematurely with 'Thank you for your time, the survey is over'. If you answered female to the first question, the survey would end straight away! After you got through the demographic questions the REAL survey began, and the survey asked you your opinion of several recent games and which games you were looking forward to out of a list; making it both an ad and a survey. If you did not meet the cliched demographics of  a 'core male gamer', you would never actually reach the survey! I think of myself as a serious gamer, but the first time I attempted the survey, I only lasted 5 or 6 questions before the survey booted me out! It may be because I prefer strategy games and RPGs (role-playing games) over shooters and RTS's (real-time-strategies) most of the time (them being the most popular genres nowadays).