FTC Urged to Probe Google, Digital Studios Deceptively Marketing 'Influencers' to Kids

The FTC was asked to investigate and take action against Google, Disney's Maker Studios, Comcast's DreamWorks-owned AwesomenessTV and two other digital studio companies engaged in "influencer" marketing directed at children, which several advocacy groups said is an unfair and deceptive practice. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Center for Digital Democracy, Georgetown University's Institute for Public Representation (IPR) and Public Citizen, in a complaint filed Friday, are urging the commission to also provide clear guidance. With influencer marketing, the complaint said, companies promote brands and products through "people whose implicit or tacit endorsement of a product is designed to influence viewers and followers to want that product." Traditional and digital marketing tactics -- including bots, branded content, data driven programmatic targeting, native advertising, product placement, social media and vlogging -- are used, it said. Such ads take advantage of children, who don't understand or process that companies are using social media and YouTube celebrities to sell products, the groups said in a news release. IPR Director Laura Moy said such ads "cause children to want unhealthy and costly products." The complaint said Google "actively encourages, solicits, and promotes" such advertising on YouTube through popular channels like EvanTubeHD (see 1609120037), Baby Ariel, Meghan McCarthy, the Eh Bee Family and Bratayley. The complaint said multichannel networks like Disney's and DreamWorks' studios, Collab Creators and Wild Brain create and distribute such videos. A Google spokeswoman said in an email that "creators should be transparent with their audiences if their content includes paid promotion of any kind. As our long-standing policy makes clear, anyone uploading videos to YouTube has a legal obligation to disclose to YouTube and their viewers if a video contains paid promotion. Any videos that have disclosed paid product placement or endorsements are restricted from the YouTube Kids app." Neither the FTC nor the other companies commented.