TY - JOUR
T1 - Host selling in cyberspace
T2 - Product personalities and character advertising on popular children's websites
AU - Bucy, Erik Page
AU - Kim, Sojung Claire
AU - Park, Miyeong Cecilia
PY - 2011/12
Y1 - 2011/12
N2 - This study examines the extent to which character advertising and other host-selling practices prevail on popular children's websites and assesses whether commercial sites geared toward young users are complying with voluntary guidelines calling for a clear separation between advertising and content. A longitudinal analysis of 101 of the most popular children's websites over a six-year period (2003, 2006 and 2009) found the integration of content and advertising through the use of spokescharacters, advergaming, and product personalities to be common. A majority of sites employed characters in their online advertising and most did not identify advertising with an explicit label when characters were featured on their homepages. A similar pattern was found for product-based games that featured spokescharacters. Branded sites with a recognizable product were much more likely to employ spokescharacters in product-based games than non-branded sites, and to use popular characters in their advertising. Over time, fewer websites featured product characters on their home pages, while the use of character advertising in product-based games inside websites increased substantially.
AB - This study examines the extent to which character advertising and other host-selling practices prevail on popular children's websites and assesses whether commercial sites geared toward young users are complying with voluntary guidelines calling for a clear separation between advertising and content. A longitudinal analysis of 101 of the most popular children's websites over a six-year period (2003, 2006 and 2009) found the integration of content and advertising through the use of spokescharacters, advergaming, and product personalities to be common. A majority of sites employed characters in their online advertising and most did not identify advertising with an explicit label when characters were featured on their homepages. A similar pattern was found for product-based games that featured spokescharacters. Branded sites with a recognizable product were much more likely to employ spokescharacters in product-based games than non-branded sites, and to use popular characters in their advertising. Over time, fewer websites featured product characters on their home pages, while the use of character advertising in product-based games inside websites increased substantially.
KW - CARU guidelines
KW - advergaming
KW - host selling in cyberspace
KW - online advertising to children
KW - product personalities
KW - spokescharacters
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=83055168315&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1461444811402485
DO - 10.1177/1461444811402485
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:83055168315
SN - 1461-4448
VL - 13
SP - 1245
EP - 1264
JO - New Media and Society
JF - New Media and Society
IS - 8
ER -