This week, Dona Fraser, Director of the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), was interviewed on Australian Broadcasting Corporation's radio show, Sunday Extra, to discuss the relationship between paid advertising and child influencers. Fraser discussed how the lack of guidelines on the Internet is allowing companies to take advantage of the vulnerability of children through these child influencers. Many of these influencers, who broadcast to younger audiences, are given products to use in their videos and “it’s very difficult, even for adults, to discern what is an advertisement versus what is actually programming. When you have a child that’s simply sitting in front of a camera unboxing a game or a toy, it’s difficult for a child... to understand that maybe this child [influencer] was given the product by a company and is being ask to do this spot,” Fraser says.
Fraser spoke about how CARU is asking for some sort of disclosure to let viewers know that what they are watching is not entertainment, it is an advertisement. Part of the problem is that these influencers, who are teens and tweens, have much younger followers because “kids always want to age up” and “probably do not understand that an [influencer’s video content] may be perceived as an advertisement.” Although these brands are trying to find relatable influencers to sell product, it needs to be made apparent to younger viewers that what they are watching an advertisement.
To learn more, listen to the full interview about child influencers and self-regulation.