Working Against Mind Control in Advertising

As seen here and as published on the PR Newswire

A public interest advocacy organization urged the Federal Trade Commission today to review and analyze the interactive marketing and branding technologies and techniques used by advertisers to target the country's children, "tweens," and teens.

In a letter to FTC Chairman Muris and the other four commissioners, the nonprofit Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) wrote that the "immersive, relational, and ubiquitous nature of such marketing raises serious questions about the ability of existing safeguards and rules to protect our nation's children and young people." The letter urged the commission to use its subpoena power to obtain any needed documents, including proprietary research studies. CDD also called on the ad industry to adopt a moratorium on all interactive techniques that -- in the absence of independent research suggesting otherwise -- could potentially harm or negatively affect children and youth.

CDD Executive Director Jeffrey Chester said that the nation's parents, educators, and health professionals should be concerned about the impact that such digital technologies have on the psychosocial development of children. "We know that the advertising industry is wielding powerful new tools that track and target the 'behavior' of the online and interactive audience (such as those for video games)," Chester explained. "How this marketing affects such critical developmental issues as cognition/brain development, identity formation, and the emotional system must be well understand prior to its use on the child-to-teen audience," he added.

Chester noted that "the architecture of our nation's electronic media system is in a critical transition," with the widespread deployment of new data collection, profiling, and "personalization" marketing techniques. "The advertising industry is engaged in multiple research efforts designed to perfect their ability to pinpoint consumers online and to ensure that they can be both tracked and measured. The government -- through the FTC and other appropriate bodies -- must step in to determine what other research is necessary to safeguard the welfare of our nation's young population," declared Chester. "That's why we are asking the FTC to engage in the kind of study that will lead to meaningful recommendations to the public -- including policymakers -- on how to ensure that interactive marketing does not detract from the healthy development of children."

CDD called for a moratorium on such advertising until its effects on children and youth could be further assessed. The group also urged Chairman Muris to have the FTC issue a similar call for an interactive marketing moratorium.

"Interactive marketing to children exploits their cognitive weaknesses, and is a deceptive and shameful misuse of child development principals," declared Michael Brody, MD, chair of the Television and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Brody (available for comment at 301-585-1703) personally supported CDD's letter to the FTC, including the call for a moratorium on such advertising until its effects on children could be further assessed.

Chester will be speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, June 9, on the need for the FCC to strengthen its policies on advertising and children in the digital television era. The event is sponsored by Children Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association.

CDD is a national public interest group devoted to ensuring that the digital media fulfill its democratic potential. Its staff led the effort to protect children's privacy online through the passage of the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

A copy of the FTC letter is available at http://www.democraticmedia.org/resources/filings/FTCletter.html.