Power to the children: June 28, 1999 issue of New Thinking

June 28, 1999 New Thinking:
Power to the children

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June 28, 1999

Power to the children

By Gerry McGovern

In this digital age it strikes me as odd that market researchers, when measuring the tastes and opinions of a population, generally make it clear that they have not sampled those under 16. This is supposed to give the research greater authority, but in today’s world, where children are playing an increasingly important role, it rather shows the research house to be trapped in Industrial Age thinking.

Children have never been more influential in society. They are taking to computers and the Internet like ducks to water, while many of their parents feel slightly left out of it all. Parents are convinced that understanding computers is essential for their children’s future careers, they just find it very difficult to connect with this new tool themselves. Therefore, more and more parents are ceding more and more power to children when they are using computers and surfing the Internet.

A June published survey by Jupiter Communications states that American teenager and child Internet users are expected to more than double from 17 million in 1998 to 38.5 million in 2002. The survey predicts that this age segment will spend USD1.3 billion online in 2002. 5- to 12-year-olds are expected to contribute USD100 million of this figure.

Another June survey, this time by NFO Interactive, states that 52 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 17 have asked their parents to buy an item that they came across on the Web. One out of six children are allowed to purchase items online, and one out of seven have actually done so. The survey also found that children are spending anything from 5 to 7 hours online every week, with their parents believing that they were spending around 4 hours.

The growing power of the children’s market online has not gone unnoticed by business. Companies such as IcanBuy.com, RocketCash.com and DoughNET.com, have all created digital wallets for children. Such software allows parents to allocate a certain amount of money that their children can spend online, and also prescribe at which websites their children can spend this money.

Children love to buy things. I know my two boys would spend and spend and spend. So, this new trend is good news for the marketer but no so good news for the parent. We are inundated with requests from our children to buy this and but that, to register at this site and that one. We are supposed to monitor closely what our children are doing online, but sometimes we don’t.

The rules of marketing to children on the Internet have not been written. We’re dealing with something quite delicate here. Children may act cool and seem like they know everything, but, really, they don’t. They’re just kids, full of innocence, wonder and a desire to play and experiment. Online can be a great place to play, but if every online playground has a sports merchandise store beside it, the fun quickly disappears as more and more bills have to be paid.

Gerry McGovern

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The rules of marketing to children on the Internet have not been written.