Children and advertising

Marketing & Consumerism

Kids are a highly desirable market for advertising: they control almost 150 billion dollars of spending in the U.S. alone and have a lifetime of spending ahead of them.[1]

Advertising has an impact on kids from very early on: 90 percent of preschoolers recognize the Coke logo and 60 percent recognize Pepsi.[2] Positive brand impressions last well into adulthood[3]: “kidults” – adults who still buy the brands they loved as children, such as Lego and Pokémon – are responsible for most of the growth in the toy industry.[4] Most kids aren’t able to tell the difference between ads and other content until around age five, though, and it takes several more years – and a lot of help from parents and teachers – for them to be able to understand how and why ads try to persuade them.[5]

Newer, less disruptive kinds of advertising, such as influencer marketing and product placement, are even harder for kids to spot and engage with.[6]  Kids ages eight to 12 are generally able to recognize “pre-roll” ads on YouTube (which are similar to TV ads and play before the video you want to watch) as advertising. Most kids that age, though, don’t understand that “unboxing” videos, in which the video maker opens a package such as a toy, are also likely to be ads.[7] Even those who understand that YouTube creators who mentioned or displayed products were probably being paid still thought of them as genuinely endorsing the product[8] (sponsored videos are not allowed on YouTube Kids, but unboxing videos are highly popular on that platform).[9] Children may be able to recognize advertising and specific marketing techniques, but they often don’t notice them without prompting.[10]  Even if they know something is advertising, they can still be influenced by its message.[11]

Other industries have also learned tricks from online commerce. For example, “blind box” toys like Labubus don’t reveal which toy is inside until after it’s purchased, bringing the “slot machine” appeal of video game loot boxes to physical toy store shelves.[12]

To prepare kids to deal with advertising, we need to teach them to both recognize it and engage critically with it by recognizing the different ways it tries to persuade us or develop positive feelings towards a brand.[13] The next two sections look at the different ways that marketers reach kids and the advertising techniques they use.

[1] Roache, K. (2019) Brands are Bypassing Influencers and Targeting Teens with Memes. Bloomberg News.

[2] Kinsky, E. S., & Bichard, S. (2011). “Mom! I've seen that on a commercial!” US preschoolers' recognition of brand logos. Young Consumers.

[3] Krashinsky, S. (2014) The effects of ads that target kids shown to linger into adulthood. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/lovable-marketing-icons-retain-their-power-into-adulthood/article17479332/

[4] Stechyson, N. (2025) Do kids still want toys? Toy stores are struggling, but don't just blame screens. NBC News.

[5] Livingstone, S., & Rahali, M. (2021) Written evidence on influencer culture and children. London School of Economics and Political Science.

[6] Livingstone, S., & Rahali, M. (2021) Written evidence on influencer culture and children. London School of Economics and Political Science.

[7] Nascimento, M. (2022) YouTube and advertising literacy among children in Portugal.

[8] Nascimento, M. (2022) YouTube and advertising literacy among children in Portugal.

[9] Marshall, L. (2019) Unboxing videos fueling kids’ tantrums, breeding consumerism. CU Boulder Today. Retrieved from https://www.colorado.edu/today/2019/12/03/unboxing-videos-fueling-kids-tantrums-breeding-consumerism

[10] Digón-Regueiro, P., & Sánchez-Blanco, C. (2024). Children negotiating meanings in kidfluencers’ channels. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 16(3), 1-15.

[11] Feijoo, B., & Vizcaíno-Verdú, A. (2024). To be fit, or not to be: How influencer-driven advertising reinforces idealized beauty standards in adolescents. Journal of Marketing Communications, 1-16.

[12] N'tchoreret-Mbiamany, J. (2025) How Labubus became a viral obsession — and fuelled a 'blind box' industry. CBC News.

[13] Campbell, A. J. (2016). Rethinking Children's Advertising Policies for the Digital Age. Loy. Consumer L. Rev., 29, 1.