A new eMarketer report indicates that the population of 8-14 year olds online is rising and that they spent $9.7 billion online last year. Wow, sounds like a market ripe for tapping! Sure it does, if you’re the kind of scum that gives our industry a bad name!

The fact is, although selling intent is something that children can understand around 8 years of age and critical thinking skills are developed as pre-teens, a study by Elizabeth Moore and Richard J. Lutz (“Children and the Changing World of Advertising,” Journal of Business Ethics, 2004) shows that pre-teen children do not have critical thinking skills in concert with media literacy to understand commercial messages for what they are.

So please, even if they are spending (their parents’) money online, let’s be responsible about how we approach chidren with marketing messages. There will be plenty of time to build brand loyalty after our consumers are able to understand the concept.

Edward McElvain, Project Manager

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