Kids, Back to School Marketing and the FTC's Tips to Keep Your Kids Safe Online

A new school year is on the horizon and retailers expect back-to-school spending per household between $510 (Deloitte) and $685 (National Retail Federation). Billions of dollars are at stake, and children influence 70% of their parents’ back-to-school purchasing choices (Deloitte). Accordingly, retailers are running a massive campaign to have their sale offers be spoken by children to their parents.

This campaign is being enacted less through television, bound as it is by the ties of FCC regulation, and more through social media. In this new platform, advertisers are no longer bound by regimented thirty-second clips. Now they can seamlessly integrate their communications into the content provided by social media influencers, a new class of celebrity adored by children and whom parents will likely never see in television or film.

The pervasive availability of marketing through devices opens a new world of wellness, monetary, and security concerns.

In a blog post yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urges parents to talk to their children about online safety. The FTC encourages parents to discuss expectations for appropriate online behavior, and stresses the importance of keeping lines of communication open even when their children do something inappropriate online. Two more blog posts will come out in the next week. These will focus on safeguarding children’s personal information, including their Social Security numbers, and tips for how to save time and money on back-to-school shopping.

CBS This Morning has a great video clip discussing the new back-to-school social media campaigning.

The Washington Post provides interesting insight into who's on social media.

Finally, PC World Magazine has an article indicating that 76% of parents are concerned about their children's internet security, with barely half sure how to avoid cyber attacks.

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