What Is Influencer Marketing and How Does It Target Children? A Review and Direction for Future Research

Abstract

Children nowadays spend many hours online watching YouTube videos in which their favorite vloggers are playing games, unboxing toys, reviewing products, making jokes or just going about their daily activities. These vloggers regularly post attractive and entertaining content in the hope of building a large follower base. Although many of these vloggers are adults, the number of child vloggers is flourishing. The famous child vlogger Ryan of Ryan’s World, for instance, has more than 19 million viewers and he is (at age seven) a social media influencer. The popularity of these vloggers incited advertisers to include them as a new marketing communication tool, also referred to as influencer marketing, in their marketing strategy. Accordingly, many influential vloggers now receive free products from brands in return for a mention in one of their videos and their other social media (e.g., TikTok or Instagram) and some are even paid to create a sponsored post or video and distribute it to their followers. This sponsored content appears to be highly influential and may affect young children’s brand preferences. Given the limited advertising literacy skills (i.e., knowledge of advertising and skills to critically reflect on this advertising) of children under age 12, they are a vulnerable target group when it comes to persuasion. Therefore, caution is needed when implementing this marketing tactic to target them. However, research on how influencer marketing affects young children (under 12) is scarce and it is unclear how these young children can be empowered to critically cope with this fairly new form of persuasion. This paper therefore aims to shed light on why and how social media influencers have persuasive power over their young followers. The paper starts with providing insights into how and why social media influencers became a new source in advertising. We then discuss the few studies that have been conducted on influencer marketing among young children (under 12), based on a systematic literature review, and take these findings to formulate societal and policy implications and develop a future research agenda.

“It’s Just Addictive People That Make Addictive Videos”: Children’s Understanding of and Attitudes towards Influencer Marketing of Food and Beverages by YouTube Video Bloggers

“…Alternatively, source credibility theory asserts that if an endorser is perceived to be a credible source of information then consumers will likely develop a positive attitude towards the promoted product [29][30][31]. Source credibility is determined by several factors, including the perceived fit between the marketed product and the endorser, the likeability of the endorser, and the level of risk associated with adopting the endorser's behavior [32,33].Studies have yet to fully understand the extent to which children view influencers as role models or as credible sources of information.Although children's perception of influencer marketing of HFSS products specifically has not been explored, qualitative research has focused on their understanding of influencer marketing of non-food products [34][35][36]. Findings from these studies demonstrate that compared with other forms of digital marketing (e.g., YouTube pop-up advertisements), children (9 and 12 years) find influencer marketing via YouTubers to be less irritating because it does not interrupt media content, and provides useful product information (e.g., price) [36].…”

“…Alternatively, source credibility theory asserts that if an endorser is perceived to be a credible source of information then consumers will likely develop a positive attitude towards the promoted product [29][30][31]. Source credibility is determined by several factors, including the perceived fit between the marketed product and the endorser, the likeability of the endorser, and the level of risk associated with adopting the endorser's behavior [32,33].…”

An accountability evaluation for the responsible use of celebrity endorsement by the food and beverage industry to promote healthy food environments for young Americans: A narrative review to inform obesity prevention policy

“…8 Endorsement also includes "influencers" who promote products and brands through social media platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, which reach millions of viewers or followers. 9 Marketing research has found that celebrity endorsement fosters brand awareness and brand loyalty among targeted consumers. 10 Public health experts suggest that celebrity endorsement is a type of integrated marketing communications (IMC) technique that is used to influence young people's diet-related cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes through different media channels and platforms in diverse settings.…”

The Urgent Need to Advance Alcohol Marketing Regulation to Protect Children

“…A more recent example of a strategy to keep up with the youth of today is the use of social media which is both interactive and ubiquitous. It is the language and mode of communication that is most likely to target and reach a younger population (De Veirman et al, 2019;Lobstein et al, 2017;Yang and Xinyan, 2018). Due to the social isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, there was an exponential growth in the use of e-commerce platforms selling alcoholic beverages.…”