Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and opportunities

35 Pages·2017·1.24 MB·English

Introduction
Children and Digital Marketing:
Rights, risks and opportunities
Current
context Discussion Paper
Children’s
Rights in the
digital realm
Roles of
advertising
actors
Opportunities
for positive
change
Annex
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and opportunities 1
Acknowledgements
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and Vital inputs were also received from Jeffrey Chester
opportunities was written by Carly Nyst, independent (Center for Digital Democracy), Kathryn Montgomery
consultant and expert on human rights (School of Communication, American University) and
in a digital world. Sarah Jacobstein (UNICEF USA).
This discussion paper benefited from the invaluable The discussion paper was edited by Catherine Rutgers
contributions of Bernadette Gutmann and Amaya and designed by Cecilia Silva Venturini.
Gorostiaga of the UNICEF Child Rights and Business
Unit, Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division, Disclaimer and copyright
Geneva. This discussion paper is a UNICEF publication.
Acknowledgments of company representatives do not
Many stakeholders contributed to the discussion imply a company´s approval and endorsement of the
paper; we specifically extend our appreciation to the discussion paper. Any reference made to a specific
participants of a UNICEF workshop that was held company does not imply endorsement by UNICEF of
in September 2017: Mikko Kotila (Botlab.Io), Matthias the company’s policies and practices.
Berninger and Jacqui Stephenson (Mars Inc.), Kerrita
McClaughlyn (Unilever), Will Gilroy and Rebecka Allen
(World Federation of Advertisers), Dan Baxter (The © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Coca-Cola Company), Steve Satterfield (Facebook), July 2018
Verity Gill (Ebiquity), Rachel Glasser (Group M),
Kristin Heume (Edelman), Ivo Stormonth Darling and All rights to this publication remain with the United
Max Gersvang Sørensen (The LEGO Group), Ching Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Any part of the
Law and Roan Chong (Tencent), Angele Beauvois report may be freely reproduced with the appropriate
(International Chamber of Commerce), Stephanie acknowledgement.
Lvovich and Adam Gagen (individual experts), Andres
Franco (UNICEF Private Sector Engagement) and Patrick
Geary (UNICEF Child Rights and Business), Mark Wijne
(UNICEF Netherlands), Marilu Gresens Peries (UNICEF
UK) and Daniel Kardefelt-Winther (UNICEF Office of
Research).
We also thank Jamie Barnard (Unilever), Doug Busk
(The Coca-Cola Company), Dieter Carstensen (The
LEGO Group) and Jennifer Pearson (Toy Industry of
Europe) for their valuable contributions.
Contents
1 Introduction: spurring 2 3
Understanding Addressing children’s
the discussion on children’s
the current context 7 rights in the digital realm 16
rights and digital marketing 4
Overview: 2.1 Key drivers ............................................... 8 3.1 Privacy and the protection
The Digital Marketing Ecosystem ................. 6 2.2 Defining features ..................................... 9 of personal information ....................... 17
2.3 The regulatory and 3.2 Freedom of expression and
self-regulatory environment .......................... 13 access to diverse information ............. 18
3.3 Protection from economic
2.3.1 Means of advertising
exploitation and adverse effects
(timing, context, placement, form)...........13
on children’s development .................. 18
2.3.2 Method of advertising
(use of children’s personal data) ............. 14
4 5
Defining roles and responsibilities Opportunities
Annex
in the digital marketing value chain 20 for positive change 25
4.1 Means of advertising: 5.1 Acknowledging the barriers to progress ... 26 I. Glossary .......................................... 30
Timing, context, placement and form .......... 22 5.2 Building new standards for digital II. Visualizing the digital marketing
4.2 Method of advertising: marketing to children ...................................... 28 value chain ......................................... 32
Use of personal data .................................. 23 5.3 Conclusions ............................................. 29 Endnotes ............................................ 33
4.3 The role of parents ............................... 24
Introduction
Introduction:
Spurring the discussion
Current
context
on children’s rights
and digital marketing
Children’s
Rights in the Today’s children occupy a unique position This split perspective fails to appreciate the real
digital realm
in the marketing ecosystem. They are position that children hold in the advertising
an extraordinarily powerful consumer ecosystem: that of rights holders, entitled to be
group, equipped by technology to exercise protected from violations of their privacy and
commercial influence while also wielding deserving an Internet free from manipulative
persuasive influence over their parents’ and exploitative practices.
buying choices. Although they have become
Roles of progressively impervious to traditional forms Increasingly, children exercise their right to
advertising
actors of advertising1,their distrust does not extend development, education, freedom of expression
to familiar online spaces. A recent Ofcom and access to information online. Their full
study, for example, found that an increasing enjoyment of this range of human rights
percentage of children aged 12–15 turn to depends on ensuring that they are able to
Google for “true and accurate information,” access and use digital technologies without
but only a minority can correctly identify putting their personal information at risk.
camouflaged forms of marketing such as native
Opportunities
for positive content and sponsored links.2
change
As advertising has become social, networked
and omnidirectional, children have been
cast simultaneously as valuable targets and
profitable influencers, or as legal liabilities
and potential reputational disasters.
Annex
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and opportunities 4
Introduction
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks treated as simply another consumer group to
and opportunities is designed to prompt wide- be exploited or avoided by industry. Advertisers, Children must not be treated as
ranging discussions about operations, practices, agencies, data brokers, publishers, and the simply another consumer group
roles and opportunities across the digital providers of the technologies that link them to be exploited or avoided by
marketing value chain. Built on desk research have a responsibility to ensure that advertising industry. It is time to formalize
and stakeholder consultations, the first draft practices afford children the enjoyment of and strengthen constraints on
Current
of the paper was reviewed with stakeholders their whole range of human rights. For too advertising to ensure that their
context
across the ad-serving value chain during a long, the digital marketing ecosystem has best interests come before
one-day workshop, in September 2017. This been somewhat of a ‘wild west’, with fewer innovation and monetization.
discussion paper speaks primarily to advertisers restrictions and standards than in the traditional
of products intended for or desired by children, broadcast space. It is time to formalize and
and publishers of sites and platforms which are strengthen constraints on marketing to ensure
child-directed, or where children are or desire to that children’s best interests come before
Children’s be. UNICEF acknowledges that there are likely innovation and monetization.
Rights in the
to be a separate set of issues for advertisers
digital realm
and publishers who do not consider children to This discussion paper offers a view of today’s
be their customer or site user. digital marketing landscape from a child rights
perspective, and aims to provide a basis for
In regard to children, regulatory frameworks marketing practices that better protect children’s
have often failed to take account of rights. Section two outlines drivers and features
developments in online marketing, although of the current situation and concludes with a
Roles of
standards-setting initiatives and new brief description of the regulatory context, while
advertising
actors regulations are moving beyond the focus section three focuses on understanding the
on marketing of unhealthy food products. impact of digital marketing on children’s rights.
Overall, there is an ongoing need for concrete The fourth section turns to marketing actors,
recommendations on how companies and breaking down their roles in the value chain and
policymakers can ensure compliance with their potential interferences with children’s rights. As
opportunities under international law to respect the basis for ongoing discussion, the paper’s
Opportunities and protect children’s human rights in the final section offers suggestions for the next
for positive context of digital marketing. steps and opportunities for positive change.
change
The starting point is that children must not be
Annex
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and opportunities 5
Introduction
The digital marketing ecosystem
Key drivers of Exposure of children to digital marketing Children’s rights
digital marketing affected
Current
Sponsored
context Advergames
search results
Consumers’
1 transition from
broadcast to digital
media • Privacy and protection of
personal information
Global proliferation Native
2 Branded
of digital devices advertising
Children’s environments
Rights in the
digital realm
• Freedom of expression
3 Birth of the data and access to diverse
economy information
Influencer Location
marketing targeting
Advancements in
4
real-time analytics and
Roles of algorithmic decision
advertising making • Protection from
actors economic exploitation
The digital marketing value chain
As the process of buying and selling Buying Intermediaries Selling
advertising has become automated,
intermediaries have been inserted • Advertisers • Data brokers • Ad networks
Opportunities bwehtowseee onb ajdecvteivrteisse arrse a nnod l ponugbelirs hers, • Agencies • Ad tech • Publishers
for positive
necessarily aligned.
change
Barriers to progress Financial Legal Technical
Opportunities for
Building new standards for digital marketing to children
positive change
Annex
CChhiillddrreenn aanndd DDiiggiittaall MMaarrkkeettiinngg:: RRiigghhttss,, rriisskkss aanndd ooppppoorrttuunniittiieess 66
Introduction
2
Understanding
Current
context the current context
Due to rapid and dramatic changes in how Based on research and consultation with
advertising is bought, sold and served in the stakeholders, this section aims to shed some
Children’s
Rights in the digital realm, the roles of various actors and light by describing key drivers and features,
digital realm
the practical operation of marketing practices and canvasses in brief the current regulatory
have been in flux for years. The appearance and self-regulatory environments.
of new advertising actors, proliferation of ad
tech, increased centrality of data and the power
of data brokers have complicated an already While advertisers express frustration
crowded ecosystem. over a system that prevents them
Roles of from scrutinizing and controlling
advertising
A lack of transparency is an overarching feature the placement and impact of online
actors
of the current digital marketing landscape. marketing, academic study and
The extraordinary value placed on intelligence evidence-based analysis of digital
about how consumers view, react to and engage advertising’s effects on human
with digital advertising has both incentivized the rights are also hindered.
expansion of data collection and discouraged
the publication of such information. While
Opportunities
for positive advertisers express frustration over a system
change that prevents them from scrutinizing and
controlling the placement and impact of online
advertising, academic study and evidence-based
analysis of effects on human rights are also
hindered.
Annex
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and opportunities 7
Introduction
2.1 Key drivers
The digital marketing universe as it exists today emerged as a result of four primary interrelated drivers:
1. Consumers’ transition from broadcast to digital media 3. Birth of the data economy
Current
context
With more mobile phones in the world than people3 and more than Data brokers, harvesters and enrichers compile and pair together vast
half of the world’s population connected to the Internet,4 individuals and diverse data sets with the aim of developing unique profiles on
are increasingly accessing information, news and entertainment online. customers, based on thousands of data points. The two largest actors in
In developed countries, the most profitable markets for advertisers, this field, Acxiom and Oracle, have amassed data on billions of individuals.
Internet-connected devices have become ubiquitous and rates of TV Oracle provides access to 5 billion ‘unique’ consumer identities, while
ownership are declining.5 As a result, advertisers are shifting from Acxiom manages 3.7 billion consumer profiles for its clients.7 These
Children’s
Rights in the investment in traditional forms of advertising towards digital marketing. and other actors provide the intelligence necessary for advertisers
digital realm Worldwide, in 2017, advertisers spent more on digital advertising than to understand their customers’ intentions, desires and actions to an
television for the first time.6 exceptional degree of granularity and accuracy. The aim, according to
Acxiom, is ‘identity resolution’ – the creation of a single view of the
customer across platforms and media in order to serve advertising that is
2. Global proliferation of digital devices far more personalized, targeted, relevant and effective than ever before.8
Roles of
The widespread adoption of connected devices, particularly the
advertising
4. Advancements in real-time analytics and algorithmic
actors smartphone, has dramatically expanded the routes through which
decision making
advertisers can interact with potential and existing customers. This
transition to a ‘multi-screen world’ has enabled advertisers to generate
and collect users’ data through a range of mediums, and subsequently Digital technology enables precise insights into which users view which
link and interconnect such data to create rich and individualized customer ads, for how long, and what percentage of ad exposure is translated
profiles. Advancements in technology, as well as the cross-demographic into purchases. Online tracking made possible through data analytics
Opportunities migration of individuals of all ages to digital devices and social media, facilitates the unique identification of users across websites and
for positive have enabled data about customers’ online activities to be paired with platforms, enabling an advertiser to ‘retarget’ a previous customer
change
data about their offline activities – matching their web searches with as she travels across the web. Algorithmic advancements have also
their in-store purchases and their social media ‘likes’ with their physical enabled publishers to use technology to conduct real-time bids for
location history. As a result, advertisers are able to more accurately advertising impressions. At the same time, publishers’ share of the
target customers across a range of media. digital advertising spend is declining as agencies, data brokers and ad
tech providers play an increasingly large role.
Annex
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and opportunities 8
Introduction
2.2 Defining features
Features of the digital marketing ecosystem Primarily programmatic: On the publisher’s end, programmatic
can be broadly characterized as primarily The bulk of digital display advertising is now advertising means that the volume and speed
programmatic, overwhelmingly data-driven, programmatic, or automated, rather than of ad serving may impede control prior to the
covert and social, nearly duopolistic and ‘normal display’.9 publication of advertising. For some publishers,
Current
continually challenged. These aspects are the design of advertising platforms and their
context
described below, along with some broad By using demand- and supply-side platforms algorithmic underpinnings may result in the
starting points for thinking about their and ad exchanges, advertisers can purchase targeting of advertising using racial or social
implications for children´s rights. advertising inventory from ad networks or stereotypes, or the dissemination of political
directly from publishers, which ‘segment’ ad misinformation.10
inventory based on consumer demographics,
Primarily programmatic content adjacency, timing and frequency. There In efforts to overcome these problems, some
Children’s
are two important repercussions of the shift platforms have indicated their intention to
Rights in the
digital realm to programmatic advertising: It incentivizes give advertisers greater control over ‘brand
Overwhelmingly data-driven
the collection of data, and it leads to the safety’, ensuring that an ad is not placed in the
degradation and distancing of the relationship context of other content that could damage the
between advertisers and publishers. advertiser’s reputation. Third-party verification
Stealth and social marketing
vendors have emerged to assist advertisers
As the process of buying and selling advertising in tracking fraud and ensuring brand safety,
has become automated, a range of ad tech and while social media platforms have pledged
Roles of Nearly duopolistic
advertising other intermediaries has been inserted between to increase human review and oversight of
actors advertisers and publishers, whose objectives are no advertising targeting programmes.11
Continually challenged longer necessarily aligned and whose interventions
may no longer be mutually understood.
After purchasing ad inventory, advertisers
may have little control over how their ads are
Opportunities displayed and to which audiences, and have
for positive
few methods for reliably verifying that they
change
have reached the intended markets. More
problematically, advertisers may lose control over
ad placement and ads may end up adjacent to
undesirable content, as seen in recent scandals
involving ad content displayed next to extremist
and divisive material on online platforms.
Annex
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and opportunities 9
Introduction
Overwhelmingly data-driven: With the birth of the ‘Internet of things’, Stealth and social marketing:
Digital media buyers generally use two the possibility of tracking individuals across Some marketing techniques fall into regulatory
techniques to serve ads: (1) contextual devices has greatly expanded, and Internet- and policy gaps concerning ethical advertising
advertising, in which advertising inventory is connected devices such as vending machines practices online. These techniques are
purchased based on the type of website or and billboards are also able to deploy designed to camouflage advertising in editorial
platform the ad appears on; or (2) behavioural behavioural advertising.13 content, videos, games and social networking,
Current
advertising, also known as ‘behavioural and use relationships and social cues to
context
targeting’, in which advertising inventory Advertisers can use software such as data catalyse purchases. Although such tactics
is purchased based on the behavioural management platforms to import personal may create a more relevant and seamless
characteristics or demographics of the audience. information from numerous sources and advertising experience for the consumer, they
aggregate data on customers. Data from the may also conceal the commercial intent of
While both techniques encompass the offline realm – such as in-store purchases online content, particularly from children (See
collection and analysis of data, this is more and customer loyalty schemes – can be box on page 11).
Children’s intensive in behavioural targeting as it involves easily imported and paired with online data
Rights in the
the acquisition and combination of multiple to continually enrich a company’s customer The asymmetry of power between children
digital realm
pieces of user data to develop sophisticated knowledge base. and the digital marketing sector, grounded in
profiles on individual users and support children’s still-developing cognitive capabilities,
ad networks in creating nuanced audience Regarding the harms that might flow from is exacerbated by these marketing methods.
segments. These data may be acquired through data-driven digital marketing, some argue If children’s ability to critically engage with
first-party cookies on bought or owned media, that the result has been a loss of control traditional broadcasting marketing techniques
or the use of third-party cookies; they could over the collection and use of personal was limited by their inexperience, innocence
Roles of
also be purchased from data brokers, or may data, accompanied by the proliferation and and immaturity, their capacity to avoid the
advertising
actors already be owned by an ad agency, social media politicization of information online.14 Others impacts of stealth advertising techniques is,
platform or advertiser. maintain that the value exchange that occurs arguably, non-existent.
between consumer and companies – in which
The range of cookies and cookie ‘respawning’ the currency is data – is an inherent feature
techniques means that ad networks are of the digital world, and that children should
generally able to uniquely identify a user be equipped to critically and safely navigate
Opportunities across websites and devices, even after a digital content.
for positive user deletes previous cookies.12 Tracking tools
change
used by behavioural advertisers include device
fingerprinting to monitor users’ activities and
create both ‘predictive’ and ‘explicit’ profiles.
Annex
Children and Digital Marketing: Rights, risks and opportunities 10