“It does my head in … buy it, buy it, buy it!” The commercialisation of UK children's web sites

Against a background of social concern about the commercialisation of childhood, the purpose of the paper is to analyse the commercial activity on the favourite web sites of UK children and report the views of a sample of parents and children.

The paper reviews the theory underpinning current debate over risks to children from online commercialism and summarises the key provisions laid out in current international regulatory guidelines. The broad principles of protection from harm and deception are identified. This review is used to frame a research design encompassing web site observation and qualitative data collection from children and parents.

A great deal of advertising is poorly labelled and deceptively integrated into content. Most sites visited by children are created for an adult audience which means 25 percent of adverts were for dating, gambling, loans, surgery and age‐restricted products. There was also evidence of pester power, dubious “free” offers and incitement to make impulse purchases using mobile phone credit.

Surveys of commercial activity on children's web sites must be ongoing as technology, advertising techniques and regulation change at a fast pace.

Companies which attract a child audience (inadvertently or not) should revise their strategy for selling advertising space. Advertisers should review potentially deceptive techniques such as advergames, product placements and embedded commercial content. “Wish lists” should be reviewed in the light of guidelines on pester power. Online payment methods available to children should be reviewed.

This is one of the first overall assessments of the commercial content of UK children's web sites.