Manipulative digital marketing practices targeted at children and youth online

This report was prepared by researchers from the Law and Technology research group at Ghent University and commissioned by the European Commission.

The report identifies specific marketing practices targeting children that warrant specific attention in future awareness-raising activities and clarifies children’s rights and commercial actors’s obligations at the EU level.

The report finds that children’s advertising literacy improves with age, with children under 12 being particularly vulnerable. However, when it comes to digital marketing practices, the available research points to certain vulnerabilities across all age groups.

The review identified four major persuasive tactics employed by digital marketers, namely integration, interaction, personalisation, and emotion. It found that these are often used in combination and can pose significant challenges to children’s advertising literacy. Third, in terms of specific marketing practices, influencer marketing and in-game marketing have become prominent and impactful forms of digital marketing targeting children.

Source: Manipulative digital marketing practices targeted at children and youth online