Marketing to kids seems to be a controversial topic with many differing opinions. The question of how to ethically market to such a young group of people, but it brings the question, why is marketing to kids valuable to companies? Kids are easily influenced by the things they see, making them the easiest target audience out of any other age group. In 2015 in the US alone, there were 53.7 million children aged 5–11 available as potential customers to these companies. Thats a large group of people that companies would be missing out on revenue from. It’s also easier to get younger kids familiar with brands at earlier stages in life to build a sense of “loyalty” and familiarity with the company. Kids who buy products have more influence, at younger ages kids tend to focus on having more materialistic items to show off to their friends. An example of this would be things such as silly bandz, rainbow loom, fidget spinners, or the recent pop-its. Its generates craze and excitement over a product that may not even have good quality and has no real basis. Because kids are an easy target and can be tricked, is it fair to be influencing them like this at such a young age?
The amount of advertising and marketing Americans are exposed to daily has risen over the past decade; studies show, that on average, people living in urban communities see up to 5,000 ads per day. This is especially true for children considering they influence the most in other peoples lives. The spending of industries on marketing towards kids has risen and its because parents are willing to buy. Now that we see many families are getting smaller and more homes are having dual income, parents have the money to spend on buying these cheap toys that make their kids happy. In kids minds these type of products are must have items, and the power of nagging kids is a lot more persistent and powerful thank we often give it credit for.
Theres also the issue of “loyalty” I mentioned earlier that hooks kids into the marketing ploys of companies. In 1991 a study was done with pre-schoolers to test brand recognition in young kids. 12 brand logos were shown that included some for kids and some for adults, including logos for cigarettes. The kids were able to remember most brands, but the ones that stuck the most were Disney and the cigarette brands which. Approximately 30% of 3-year-old children correctly matched the cigarette brand. This study shows that kids do in fact remember what they’re shown on TV and it can resonate with them. Therefore, if brands wanted to build loyalty in companies amongst the public, they could do it with kids as young as around three years old.
Marketing to kids is not a bad thing however, its how things get sold and things get used, its an inevitable part of the economy that keeps it going. However the issue is how the media is portrayed said advertisements and commercials. If the target audience in the market is young children, it should be the number one priority and responsibility to keep them safe and away from bad influences. If information on children is captured, companies need to keep that safe. Especially in cases where marketing for online video games are concerned, where kids may use their personal emails or names. 
The younger kids are the future of the world, and that being said things need to be implemented to teach them to become informed consumers as they start off on the media earlier and earlier. Content marketing will only continue to grow as time goes on. However instead of encouraging kids to buy things, we should be pushing them in the direction of becoming thoughtful consumers who are able to compare products easily. Being ethical in marketing practice is something the media needs to become more aware of as younger kids make up a large majority of sales.
