Survey: Advertising to Kids

The Advertising to Kids survey was conducted to better understand how people feel about marketing to children.

Advertisers in the U.S. spend an estimated than $3 billion every year marketing products to children, which is projected to rise to $21.1 billion by 2031(6). This practice continues despite the fact that researchers and legal scholars alike – including the American Psychological Association – concur that advertising to young children is misleading and unfair.(2,3) Children below the age of 8 years have underdeveloped cognitive skills, and thus are unable to distinguish biased advertising messages from fact.(3-5)

The NFEC seeks to gain a deeper knowledge about factors – like advertising to kids – that can affect a child’s future state of financial wellness. The research can give organizations data to effectively support early childhood development and influence young people’s personal finance skill sets.

This unfair practice of targeting young children with marketing inspired the National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) to conduct a survey of American adults to clarify where they stand on the issue. The Advertising to Kids survey, conducted from October 21st to 29th, asked 2,696 citizens across the US to answer three questions: whether they thought companies should advertise to kids under 8; whether they thought junk food companies should market to young children; and whether they believed marketing to young children was unethical.

Stop Advertising to Kids Whitepaper

Advertising to children today is pervasive across a broad and growing range of platforms, which raises ethical and health concerns across the gamut of life aspects.

This report explores the problems posed by advertising to children and youth – with particular focus on kids’ financial health – and suggests two policy strategies to help mitigate those risks.

Survey Results

Kids under 8 years old cannot understand the persuasive content of advertisements. Should companies advertise to kids younger than 8 years old?

822 Respondents

82.5%

“Definitely No” or “No”

11.0%

“Maybe”

6.6%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

Kids under 8 years old cannot understand the persuasive content of advertisements. Is advertising to kids younger than 8 years old unethical?

1,118 Respondents

21.1%

“Definitely No” or “No”

25.7%

Maybe

53.2%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

Kids under 8 years old cannot understand the persuasive content of advertisements. Should junk food companies advertise to kids younger than 8 years old?

756 Respondents

9.1%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

20.6%

“Maybe”

70.3%

“Definitely No” or “No”

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Past Results (2021)

October 13 to November 1, 3,298 Respondents

Should companies advertise to kids younger than 8 years old?

1001 Respondents

79.7%

“Definitely No” or “No”

12.6%

Maybe

7.7%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

Is advertising to kids younger than 8 years old unethical?

1001 Respondents

57.0%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

26.2%

“Maybe”

16.8%

“Definitely No” or “No”

Should junk food companies advertise to kids younger than 8 years old?

1096 Respondents

76.6%

“Definitely No” or “No”

13.9%

“Maybe”

9.5%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

Past Results (2020)

November 5th to 9th, 3002 Respondents

Should companies advertise to kids younger than 8 years old?

80.2%

“Definitely No” or “No”

11.2%

Maybe

8.6%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

Is advertising to kids younger than 8 years old unethical?

57.8%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

23.3%

“Maybe”

18.9%

“Definitely No” or “No”

Should junk food companies advertise to kids younger than 8 years old?

74.7%

“Definitely No” or “No”

17.3%

“Maybe”

8%

“Definitely Yes” or “Yes”

1. Guttman A. Spending on advertising to children worldwide from 2012 to 2021, by format [Internet]. New York: Statista; 2020 Apr [cited 2020 Oct 29]. https://www.statista.com/statistics/750865/kids-advertising-spending-worldwide/
2. Radesky J, Reid Chassiakos Y, Ameenuddin N, Navsaria D. Digital advertising to children. Pediatrics. 2020;146(1):e20201681.
3. Wilcox BL, Kunkel D, Cantor J, Dowrick P, Linn S, Palmer E. Report of the APA Task Force on Advertising and Children. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2004.
4. Lapierre MA, Fleming-Milici F, Rozendaal E, McAlister AR, Castonguay J. The effect of advertising on children and adolescents. Pediatrics. 2017;140(s2):e20161758.
5. Harris JL, Kalnova SS. Food and beverage TV advertising to young children: Measuring exposure and potential impact. Appetite. 2017;123:49–55.
6. Statista Research Department. Spending on digital advertising worldwide from 2021 to 2031 [Internet]. September 9, 2022: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1326893/children-digital-advertising-spending-worldwide/