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Looks at recent research into children’s media consumption, highlights the importance of media literacy, and reports on an industry‐related media education programme; the research is tending to show that children are deciding what and when they watch television and other media. Develops, on the basis of these findings, a model of self‐supervised media engagement which is characterised by a lack of adult mediation. Argues that media literacy is important because it helps children become critical viewers of advertising and programming on their own; media literacy involves information processing skills and as such may be the most important life skill in the age of the internet. Introduces the UK Media Smart programme, which is industry funded and since 2002 has provided educational materials to help children think critically about advertising and other media issues.

Reports a five‐year Danish study into levels of consumer socialisation among children, showing how they have been affected by new and proliferating communications media; issues include their spending and saving abilities, brand awareness, media use, interests and activities, while advertising was examined in relation to consumer socialisation. Outlines the methods of this research, which consists of qualitative and quantitative data obtained from a questionnaire survey, observations, interviews with 120 children and their teachers, etc. Finds that: media and communications equipment is central to the families’ everyday lives, with television the most important medium; brand awareness exists at an early age; gender differences are significant in the type of product purchased; new digital media are breaking down the barriers between content and advertising; and children are about 12 years old before they understand the purpose of advertising, although they realise the difference between programmes and advertising by age seven.

Uses historical data to examine emergent trends in media aimed at children; the intention is to detail the globalised “Bedroom Culture” phenomenon which has been identified in the UK and USA as signifying a move from outdoors to indoors and from active to passive pursuits. Shows how the growth of the Internet and mobile phone has not led to a reduction in television viewing, but instead to fragmentation and diversification of the children’s media market, aided by the dramatic explosion in satellite and cable TV; children interact with the different media forms in very different ways, each of them contributing to their entertainment requirements, and they can now communicate outside their traditional peer networks. Concludes that new communication channels are merely a way to reach consumers more efficiently; websites and mobile phones require high investment to induce children to use them, and must avoid appearing to be intrusive.

Interviews Paul Jackson, chairman of Media Smart, which is a UK media literacy programme founded in 2002 and focusing on advertising; it is aimed at schoolchildren aged six to 11, is funded by the media industry and supported by Ofcom, the UK government and the European Commission. Introduces the Responsible Advertising and Children group, which Jackson also chairs and which represents European advertisers, agencies and media; it believes that media literacy for children is more effective than outright advertising bans. Outlines the Media Smart programme, which consists of three modules with materials and a DVD, and includes an introduction to advertising, commercial advertisements aimed at children, and non‐commercial advertising; perhaps the most interesting section is on controversies. Notes Jackson’s intention that Media Smart stay focused on advertising, rather than widening its scope in the way that Concerned Children’s Advertisers has done in Canada.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered daily life for Gen Z. The purpose of this study was to examine parental perceptions of the pandemic’s effects on their children’s peer relationships. As children sought peer connection during the pandemic, technology usage soared. The second purpose of the current study was to assess how greater time on social media affected adjustment among Gen Z and whether this effect was mediated by experiences of cyber victimization.

In total, 250 U.S. parent-child dyads participated in the study. Parents reported on their children’s social media use and described how they believed the pandemic affected their children’s peer relationships. Child participants were transitioning to middle school and reported on cyber victimization and adjustment.

Thematic analysis of parental reflections revealed three themes: children spent more time online since the onset of the pandemic, there were negative implications of increased time online and there were positive and protective implications of being online. Analysis also indicated significant indirect effects of social media use on internalizing and externalizing problems through victimization.

Parents reported Gen Z continues to use electronic forms of communication and social media at high rates even after pandemic-related restrictions eased with some suggesting that their children prefer digital over face-to-face communication because they have become accustomed to this way of connecting and may find it easier than in-person interaction. Current findings highlight concerns about this increased time online as social media use negatively affected adjustment via cyber victimization.

Can parents identify leadership lessons in children’s media and use them to teach their children leadership? Thirty participants were asked to answer questions about leadership in children’s media before and after watching clips of a popular G-rated children’s movie. The results from the questionnaire indicated that parents do recognize leadership behaviors in children’s media and do feel that their children are learning from the media. As a result of this learning environment, children become more aware of leadership. Further, sixty-seven percent of the parents claimed to reinforce the positive messages in the media, and seventy percent claimed to teach their children about leadership. In two participant groups, results varied by gender and education level. The study recommends ways for parents and media producers to emphasize leadership messages so as to foster leadership development in children

This paper aims to investigate how social media usage by children determines their interactions with consumer brands. The paper also examines the nature of the processes evident.

A qualitative approach was implemented using both paired and single in-depth interviews of New Zealand children (both boys and girls) in the age group of 11-14 years. The data were analysed by thematic analysis of the interview transcripts.

The study demonstrates that children use three main processes – discerning, reacting and forming – when interacting with brands on social media. Each of these processes has different levels of interaction episodes depending on the amount of social media activity by each child. Discerning has noticing, a lower level of interaction and identifying which uses already internalised brand knowledge. Reacting consists of describing and evaluation which involves more active interaction resulting in opinion formation. Forming can involve a distant “watching” interaction or a more active relating behaviour when children are using multiple social media platforms.

The study identifies three key modes of brand interaction behaviour when young consumers use social media, which each have two interactions. The implication for marketers, parents and policymakers is that there is a range of behaviours, both passive and active, that children show when interacting with consumer brands when using social media.

The current study offers a way to deepen the understanding of how children approach online communications with brands in the social media context. The research finds that the children’s use of social media is more active and dynamic than previously thought, giving rise to connections with brands that are meaningful to the children. Specific codes of practice for online brand marketers may be necessary so that children are helped to understand the commercial intent of brand practices on social media.

The findings shed light on the range of interaction behaviour of young consumers, and such information provides insights into how children acquire brand knowledge, react to social media communication and decide the value of such communication for themselves. Brand marketers have a role to play in ensuring their brand communications practices avoid deception and clearly indicate commercial intent.

Investigating how children individually process brand information in a social media context provides insights into their interaction behaviour. These findings show differing levels of interest in both brand and social media activity amongst children.

The purposes of this study are to examine how parents implement discussion-based parental mediation (i.e. active mediation) to influence the way children understand advertising on television, computers and smartphones and to investigate factors associated with parental mediation practices.

A survey was conducted with parents in Singapore whose children were watching television, using computers with internet access and using smartphones.

The degree to which parents engage in active mediation of advertising is similar across different media. Active mediation of advertising is more a function of parents’ attitudes toward advertising directed to children, parents’ concerns about media influence on their children and parental self-efficacy rather than the age of their children.

The survey was conducted in a single country and did not examine the consequences of parental mediation of advertising. Future research should consider cross-cultural perspectives and investigate the outcomes of parental mediation.

For advertising practitioners, this study argues that it is important to understand how parents view different forms of advertising. For media educators and policy makers, this study suggests that various parental factors should be considered to develop effective guidelines for parents.

This study adds novel insights to the literature on consumer socialization by investigating how parents – the primary socialization agents in children’s development of consumption-related behaviors – help children understand advertising across different media.

Social cognitive theory suggests that children may have more favorable attitudes toward food products promoted by media characters who are similar to them, in terms of factors such as age, gender and race-ethnicity. This paper aims to profile the characters in food and beverage websites and apps for children and examine whether the healthfulness of promoted products varies as a function of character background.

This study includes two parallel content analyses focused on websites and apps that were produced by America’s top selling food and beverage companies.

There were very few child-targeted websites and apps, but those that existed were replete with media characters. These websites/apps tended to feature media characters with diverse gender, age and racial–ethnic backgrounds. However, marketing featuring adult and male characters promoted particularly unhealthy foods.

American food companies, many of whom signed voluntary self-regulatory pledges through the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, should make a more concerted effort to refrain from featuring appealing media characters in child-directed new media marketing. Whether conscious or not, it seems as if food marketers may be leveraging characters to appeal to a wide audience of children of varied demographic backgrounds.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this manuscript is the only research to focus specifically on the demographic profiles (i.e. gender, age and race-ethnicity) of characters in food websites and the nutritional quality of the products they promote. It is also the first to systematically examine media characters in food apps in any capacity.

This study aims to explore which media 9- and 10-year-old children and 12- and 13-year-old teenagers encounter and which campaign elements (media, spokesperson, appeal and message) are most appreciated by these target groups in awareness campaigns to raise their advertising literacy.

The study applies a methodology that is commonly used in design sciences to the field of advertising. Co-creation workshops with minors and professionals are used for the development of awareness campaign stimuli. In the first study, four co-creation workshops with 19 children (11 girls and 8 boys) of the fourth grade and four co-creation workshops with 16 teenagers (10 girls and 6 boys) of the seventh grade were organised. In the second study, nine professionals who work for and/or with minors or have experience in product design or marketing participated in a co-creation workshop.

Children are best approached though traditional media, whereas social media are used best to reach teenagers. Children prefer cartoons, whereas the results for the most appealing spokesperson in teenagers are mixed. Humoristic campaigns with a short message are preferred by both target groups.

The results offer implications for practice and public policy with respect to awareness campaign building and social media marketing campaigns targeted at children and teenagers. To further corroborate the findings of this study, more pupils from different schools and different age groups should be studied. Moreover, the method used in this study can be applied in future research on awareness campaigns aimed at minors for other causes.

The methodological contribution of the study is the application of co-creation tools and techniques on the development of advertising campaigns for minors.