As a result, Josh Golin of CCFC criticized Google for allowing this to happen, comparing it with other media platforms targeted at young children. The CCFC and the CDD have filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission.
If you check out YouTube Kid, it will not take long before promotions appear for junk food.
YouTube said « We only show ads that are approved as family-friendly – for example, we don’t show any food and beverage ads – and all ads undergo a rigorous review process for compliance with our policies ».
Meanwhile, YouTube’s advertising guidelines only apply to paid ads – the 30 or 60-second videos that are shown before the selected video.
Golin said Google is doing an end run around these rules and around parents by claiming it does not allow junk food marketing on the app, Golin said.
A YouTube spokeswoman says: « The app contains a wide-range of content, including videos with food-related themes, but these are not paid advertisements », adding that parents have the ability to turn off search functionality and restrict the app to a limited set of videos as well.
EvanTubeHD, like numerous most popular children’s YouTube channels, regularly publishes « unboxing » videos featuring toys and other products.
Products made by companies who promised not to advertise to kids under 12 included sugary snacks like Nutella (Ferrero USA), Reese’s and Hershey’s Kisses (Hershey), Snickers (Mars, Inc.), Toll House Cookies (Nestle USA, Inc.), and more. Brands named in the 83-page document include Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Burger King, Coca-Cola and American Licorice, among others.
Numerous companies that make the products are members of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, an industry self-regulation program that has pledged not to advertise to children under 12, the complaint says. The advocacy groups want the government to investigate how these videos come to be made if companies are attempting to get around policies and agreements meant to keep ads away from kids. But clearly, relying on the creator community to self-police is not effective, as these FTC complaints indicate.
« We expect these brands and [YouTube] to honor their pledge to not target on YouTube Kids », Golin said. Earlier this year, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy were among a coalition of consumer advocates that complained to the FTC that YouTube Kids was targeting youngsters with unfair and deceptive advertising.
This isn’t the first time YouTube Kids has drawn the ire of child advocacy groups for this exact same issue.