Covert advertising by kidsfluencers: a methodological proposal applied to the case study of the ten youngest youtubers with most followers in Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.mar.19Keywords:
Covert advertising, Kidsfluencers, YouTube, Influencer marketing, Unboxing, Product placement, Ethics and deontology of advertising on social networks, Communication on social networks, Content analysis, Cronbach's alpha, Categorical principal component analytis, Self-regulationAbstract
The digital age has brought about great changes in the practice and design of marketing and advertising campaigns. In recent years, the development of new strategies such as influencer marketing has increased dramatically, involving minors who have become true protagonists in the marketing of toys, video games, fashion, etc., with the Instagram and YouTube platforms being the most widely used. This activity has been highly criticized recently, despite its occurrence worldwide with the main aim of broadcasting audiovisual content by minors, often including product placement and/or promotions that are not duly announced. However, in most cases, it is very difficult to prove the existence of a contractual relationship between the promoted brands and the minors. For this reason, a novel method was developed in this work to analyze the audiovisual content based on assertions in the message, thus enabling a determination of the characteristics and specific circumstances of the content broadcast by kidsfluencers (aged 15 or under) that would constitute camouflaged acts of illicit advertising. The results are conclusive and demonstrate the repeated presence of advertising in the videos analyzed. In Spain, this would represent a clear violation of the current legal framework and an obvious danger to minors or followers of these influencers. This situation could also be extrapolated to other societies that are dominated by the use and impact of new technologies and the internet, which should be updated and developing in accordance with new trends in the practice of marketing and advertising online.
Downloads
References
Agrawal, Jagdish; Kamakura, Wagner A. (1995). "The economic worth of celebrity endorsers: An event study analysis". Journal of marketing, v. 59, n. 3, pp. 56-62. https://doi.org/10.2307/1252119
Autocontrol (1996). Código general de conducta publicitaria. Autocontrol. https://www.autocontrol.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/codigo-de-conducta-publicitaria-autocontrol.pdf
Autocontrol (2019). Particular (Transfronteriza ASA) vs. Paulina Eriksson. "Auriculares sin etiquetar influencer. RRSS". Autocontrol. Sección cuarta del Jurado. https://www.autocontrol.es
Balasubramanian, Siva K. (1994). "Beyond advertising and publicity: Hybrid messages and public policy issues". Journal of advertising, v. 23, n. 4, pp. 29-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1943.10673457
Baños-González, Miguel; Rodríguez-García, Teresa C. (2012). Imagen de marca y product placement. Madrid: ESIC Editorial. ISBN: 978 84 7356 837 1
Berelson, Bernard (1952). Content analysis in communication research. Kinnelon, NJ, Estados Unidos: Free Press. ISBN: 978 0 02841 210 8
BrandManic (2019). Estudio sobre marketing de influencers en España 2018. https://www.brandmanic.com/estudio-marketing-de-influencers-en-espana-2018
Casaló, Luis V.; Flavián, Carlos; Ibáñez-Sánchez, Sergio (2020). "Influencers on Instagram: Antecedents and consequences of opinion leadership". Journal of business research, v. 117, pp. 510-519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.07.005
Comisión Europea (1994). "Directiva 94/33/CE del Consejo, de 22 de junio de 1994, relativa a la protección de los jóvenes en el trabajo". DOCE, n. 216, 20 agosto, pp. 12-20. https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=DOUE-L-1994-81324
De-la-Cuesta, José-María (2002). Curso de derecho de la Publicidad. Ediciones Universidad de Navarra: Eunsa. ISBN: 978 84 313 2037 9
Del-Pino, Cristina; Olivares, Fernando (2007). "Brand placement y advertainment: integración y fusión entre la ficción audiovisual y las marcas". Zer, n. 22, pp. 341-367. https://ojs.ehu.eus/index.php/Zer/article/view/3696/3328
España (1988). "Ley 34/1988, de 11 de noviembre, General de Publicidad". Boletín oficial del estado, n. 274, 15 noviembre, pp. 32464-32467. https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-1988-26156
España (2002). "Ley 34/2002, de 11 de julio se servicios de la sociedad de la información y de comercio electrónico". Boletín oficial del Estado, n. 166, 12 julio, pp. 25388-25403. https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2002-13758
España (2010). "Ley 7/2010, de 31 de marzo, General de la comunicación audiovisual". Boletín oficial del estado, n. 79, 1 abril, pp. 30157-30209. https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2010-5292
Establés, María-José; Guerrero-Pico, Mar; Contreras-Espinosa, Ruth S. (2019). "Jugadores, escritores e influencers en redes sociales: procesos de profesionalización entre adolescentes". Revista latina de comunicación social, n. 74, pp. 214-236. http://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2019-1328
Esteban, Patricia (2020). "Los "˜influencers´ tendrán que advertir de los contenidos publicitarios a partir de 2021". Cinco días, 21 octubre. https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2020/10/21/legal/1603304203_829941.html
Ferrer-López, Marina (2020). "Neuromarketing y la medición del efecto de la publicidad de influencers en adolescentes". Revista mediterránea de comunicación, v. 11, n. 2, pp. 241-259. https://www.doi.org/10.14198/MEDCOM2020.11.2.11
Garitaonandia, Carmelo; Karrera-Xuarros, Inaki; Jiménez-Iglesias, Estefanía; Larrañaga, Nekane (2020). "Menores conectados y riesgos online: contenidos inadecuados, uso inapropiado de la información y uso excesivo de internet". Profesional de la información, v. 29, n. 4, e290436. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.jul.36
Hair, Joseph F.; Anderson, Rolph E.; Tatham, Ronald L.; Black, William C. (2004). Análisis multivariante, 5ª ed. Madrid: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN: 84 8322 035 0
IAB Spain (2019). Estudio anual de redes sociales. https://iabspain.es/estudio/estudio-anual-de-redes-sociales-2019
Kaiser, Henry F. (1958). "The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analisis". Psychometrika, v. 23, n. 3, pp. 187-200. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02289233
Krippendorff, Klaus (1990). Metodología de análisis de contenido. Teoría y práctica. Barcelona: Paidós Comunicación. ISBN: 978 84 7509 627 8
Maathuis, Onno; Rodenburg, John; Sikkel, Dirk (2004). "Credibility, emotion or reason?". Corporate reputation review, v. 6, pp. 333-345. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540003
Meulman, Jacqueline J.; Heiser, Willem J. (2004). Spss categories. 13.0. SPSS Inc. https://java.mcmaster.ca/SPSS.manual/SPSS%20Categories%2013.0.pdf
Navarro-Céspedes, Juan M.; Casas-Cardoso, Gladys; González-Rodríguez, Emilio (2010). "Principal component and regression analysis for categorical data. Application to arterial hypertension". Revista de matemática: Teoría y aplicaciones, v. 17, n. 2, pp. 199-230. http://www.kerwa.ucr.ac.cr/handle/10669/12979
Nieto-Moreno, Antonio; Sosa-Troya, María (2019). "El polémico negocio de los niños "˜youtubers´". El país, 24 febrero. https://elpais.com/sociedad/2019/02/23/actualidad/1550955595_762719.html
Núñez-Cansado, Marian; Cañadas-Jiménez, José-Carlos (2019). "KidsYoutubers: ejes de poder de influencia". En: Sierra-Sánchez, Javier; Lavín-de-la-Cavada, José-María (eds.). Redes sociales, tecnologías digitales y narrativas interactivas en la sociedad de la información. Madrid: McGrawHill, pp. 159-173. ISBN: 978 84 486 1818 6
Ortega-Ruiz, César; Velandía-Morales, Andrea (2011). "Influencia del advergaming y el advertising en la recordación y reconocimiento de una marca". Revista latinoamericana Konrad Lorenz, v. 43, n. 3, pp. 511-520. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3802188.pdf
Osgood, Charles E. (1959). "Representational model and relevant research methods". In: Pool, Ithiel-de-Sola (ed.). Trends in content analysis: papers. Monticello, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, pp. 33-88. ISBN: 978 0 598624628
Pérez, Beatriz (2019). "El CAC denuncia la publicidad encubierta de 15 "˜youtubers´ infantiles". El periódico, 18 diciembre. https://www.elperiodico.com/es/sociedad/20191218/el-cac-denuncia-la-publicidad-encubierta-de-15-youtubers-infantiles-7778944
Pérez-Suárez, Rigoberto; López-Menéndez, Ana-Jesús (1997). Análisis de datos económicos II. Métodos inferenciales. Madrid: Pirámide. ISBN: 978 84 36810462
Segarra-Saavedra, Jesús-Ángel; Hidalgo-Marí, Tatiana (2018). "Influencers, moda femenina e Instagram: el poder de prescripción en la era 2.0". Revista mediterránea de comunicación, v. 9, n. 1, pp. 313-325. https://doi.org/10.14198/MEDCOM2018.9.1.17
Sheehan, Kim-Bartel; Guo, Aibing (2005). "Leaving on a (branded) jet plane: An exploration of audience attitudes towards product assimilation in television content". Journal of current issues and research in advertising, v. 27, n. 1, pp. 79-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2005.10505175
Shin, Wonsun; Kang, Hyunjin (2016). "Adolescents´ privacy concerns and information disclosure online: the role of parents and the Internet". Computer in human behavior v. 54, pp. 114-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.062
Sixto-García, José; Álvarez-Vázquez, Amalia (2020). "Influencers en Instagram y publicidad engañosa: la necesidad de regular y autorregular". Estudios sobre el mensaje periodístico, v. 26, n. 4, pp. 1611-1622. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.66921
Smith, Rachel; Kelly, Bridget; Yeatman, Heather; Moore, Christopher; Baur, Louise; King, Lesley; Boyland, Emma; Chapman, Kathy; Hughes, Clare; Bauman, Adrian (2020). "Advertising placement in digital game design influences children´s choices of advertised snacks: A randomized trial". Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, v. 120, n. 3, pp. 404-413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2019.07.017
Soh, Patrick-Chin-Hooi; Kok-Wai, Chew; Kian-Yeik, Koay; Hwa-Ang, Peng (2018). "Parents vs peers´ influence on teenagers´ Internet addiction and risky online activities". Telematics and informatics, v. 35, n. 1, pp. 225-236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.11.003
Sosa, Alex (2016). "La publicidad encubierta y nuevas modalidades publicitarias". Revista de actualidad mercantile, v. 4, pp. 252-266. http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/actualidadmercantil/article/view/14964
Sudha, Mishka; Sheena, Kinari (2017). "Impact of influencers in consumer decision process: the fashion industry". SCMS Journal of Indian managemet, v. 14, n. 3, pp. 14-30. https://www.scms.edu.in/uploads/journal/articles/article_12.pdf
Torrecillas-Lacave, Teresa; Vázquez-Barrio, Tamara; Monteagudo-Barandalla, Laura (2017). "Percepción de los padres sobre el empoderamiento digital de las familias en hogares hiperconectados". El profesional de la información, v. 26, n. 1, pp. 97-104. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.ene.10
Tur-Viñes, Victoria; Núñez-Gómez, Patricia; González-Río, María-José (2018). "Menores influyentes en YouTube. Un espacio para la responsabilidad". Revista latina de comunicación social, n. 73, pp. 1211-1230. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2018-1303
Unicef (2017). Estado mundial de la infancia 2017. Niños en un mundo digital. New York: División de comunicaciones de Unicef. ISBN: 978 92 806 4940 6 https://www.unicef.org/media/48611/file
Unnikrishnan, Namita; Bajpai, Shailaja (1996). The impact of television advertising on children. California: Sage Publications. ISBN: 978 0 803992436
Wang, Xuehua; Yang, Zhilin (2010). "The effect of brand credibility on consumers´ brand purchase intention in emerging economies: The moderating role of brand awareness and brand image". Journal of global marketing, v. 23, pp. 177-188. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2010.487419
Youn, Seounmi; Shin, Wonsun (2019). "Teens´ responses to Facebook newsfeed advertising: the effects of cognitive appraisal and social influence on privacy concerns and coping strategies". Telematics and informatics, v. 38, pp. 30-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2019.02.001
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Dissemination conditions of the articles once they are published
Authors can freely disseminate their articles on websites, social networks and repositories
However, the following conditions must be respected:
- Only the editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with this copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://www.profesionaldelainformacion.com
- Only the final editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with that copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com
Profesional de la información journal offers the articles in open access with a Creative Commons BY license.
