August 31, 2006

When marketing to kids, there are certain legal rules with which marketers must comply, such as the Children's Online Protection Act (COPA), as well as certain other ethical standards to which marketers are strongly encouraged to abide.

To be sure, two years ago the American Marketing Association (AMA) adopted and published a specific code of ethics aimed at marketers, both online and offline.

In it, its three general principles by which a marketer's standard of conduct should be measured are as follows:

1. Marketers must do no harm.

2. Marketers must foster trust in the marketing system

3. Marketers must embrace, communicate and practice the fundamental ethical values that will improve consumer confidence in the integrity of the marketing exchange system; these basic values are intentionally aspirational and include honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, openness and citizenship.

The Children's Advertising Review Unit has established seven principles by which advertisers should self-regulate themselves in relation to marketing specifically directed to children:

a) Advertisers should always take into account the level of knowledge, sophistication and maturity of the audience to which their message is primarily directed. Younger children have a limited capacity for evaluating the credibility of information they receive. They also may lack the ability to understand the nature of the personal information they disclose on the Internet. Advertisers, therefore, have a special responsibility to protect children from their own susceptibilities.

b) Realizing that children are imaginative and that make-believe play constitutes an important part of the growing-up process, advertisers should exercise care not to exploit unfairly the imaginative quality of children. Unreasonable expectations of product quality or performance should not be stimulated either directly or indirectly by advertising.

c) Products and content which are inappropriate for children should not be advertised or promoted directly to children.

d) Recognizing that advertising may play an important part in educating the child, advertisers should communicate information in a truthful and accurate manner and in language understandable to young children with full recognition that the child may learn practices from advertising which can affect his or her health and well-being.

e) Advertisers are urged to capitalize on the potential of advertising to influence behavior by developing advertising that, wherever possible, addresses itself to positive and beneficial social behavior, such as friendship, kindness, honesty, justice, generosity and respect for others.

f) Care should be taken to incorporate minorities and other groups in advertisements in order to present positive and pro-social roles and role models wherever possible. Social stereotyping and appeals to prejudice should be avoided.

g) Although many influences affect a child's personal and social development, it remains the prime responsibility of the parents to provide guidance for children. Advertisers should contribute to this parent-child relationship in a constructive manner.

Source: eMarketer