Parents' and children's perception on social media advertising

 Beatriz Feijoo, Logroño (Spain)

 Simón Bugueño, Santiago de Chile (Chile)

 Charo Sádaba, Pamplona (Spain)

 Aurora García-González, Pontevedra (Spain)

https://doi.org/10.3916/C67-2021-08

Keywords

Advertising, minors, social networks, Instagram, Youtube, advertising literacy

Abstract

This article presents the results of research that seeks to analyze the ability of minors to identify the advertising messages received through the most used social networks by this audience (YouTube and Instagram). Children’s aptitude to recognize persuasive intent was measured in a selection of examples taken for this study, as well as the perception that parents or guardians had about the minor's ability to recognize advertising on the platforms analyzed. Results were obtained from a survey applied to dyads in 501 homes in the Metropolitan Area of Santiago de Chile, to children aged 10 to 14 and to one of their parents or guardians. Main results include the notion that more than 50% of children were not able to detect advertising in examples containing ads. Lower recognition percentages were obtained in cases that combined persuasive content and entertainment and were not classified as advertising. For their part, adults perceived that their children recognize persuasive intent to a lesser extent than indicated by the children themselves. An explicit and clear signaling of advertising messages, as well as advertising literacy according to the age of minors could help them discern the content they consume on social networks.

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Fundref

This research work is limited to the Fondecyt Iniciación Project # 11170336 with the title “The minor as a consumer. Analysis of the advertising received by users aged 10 to 14 through mobile devices”. This research also received financial support from the Vice Chancellor for Research at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).

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Technical information

Received: 16-09-2020

Revised: 14-10-2020

Accepted: 16-11-2020

OnlineFirst: 15-01-2021

Publication date: 01-04-2021

Article revision time: 28 days | Average time revision issue 67: 36 days

Article acceptance time: 61 days | Average time of acceptance issue 67: 67 days

Preprint editing time: 152 days | Average editing time preprint issue 67: 159 days

Article editing time: 197 days | Average editing time issue 67: 204 days

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