Food brands spend $1.8 billion dollars a year marketing their products to kids. Although TV is a major source of food advertising, companies have dramatically increased online advertising in response to growing social media use.
YouTube is the second most used website in the world and a popular destination for kids. More than 80% of parents allow their children under 12 to watch YouTube and 35% of parents say their kids watch YouTube regularly. The allure has been especially strong during COVID-19 with parents working from home with the challenge of keeping kids busy.
Millions of parents use videos of “kid influencers.” These are often children whose parents film them doing activities, science experiments, playing with toys, or celebrating special events. The growing popularity of kid influencers has caught the attention of brands who advertise or sponsor posts before of during videos.
Parents may not be aware that the kid influencers are often paid by food companies to promote a brand. Researchers from New York University (Child Social Media Influencers and Unhealthy Food Product Placement | American Academy of Pediatrics (aappublications.org) found that over 42% of the most popular kids influencer videos promoted unhealthy branded food with fast food, soda and candy being the most popular. Only a few videos feature healthier items – 4% hot dogs, 3% fruit, and 2% yogurt brands. The videos featuring unhealthy foods were viewed more than 1 billion times, a staggering level of exposure for brands. Parents and children often trust YouTube kid influencers because they look like everyday people and the promotion does not look like an advertisement.
