Capturing the Commercial World of Children: The Feasibility of Wearable Cameras to Assess Marketing Exposure

• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Author: Leah Watkins,Robert Aitken,Ryan Gage,Moira B. Smith,Tim J. Chambers,Michelle Barr,James Stanley,Louise N. Signal
• Date: 01 December 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12234

1396 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

LEAH WATKINS, ROBERT AITKEN, RYAN GAGE,

MOIRA B. SMITH, TIM J. CHAMBERS, MICHELLE BARR,

JAMES STANLEY, AND LOUISE N. SIGNAL

Capturing the Commercial World of Children: The

Feasibility of Wearable Cameras to Assess

Marketing Exposure

There is widespread concern about the implications of increasedtarget-

ing of marketing to children. However,despite the ubiquitous presence

of marketing in children’s environments,children’s actual exposure to

the full range of marketing across all media and in multiple settings

remains unknown. This article reportson an innovative method of anal-

ysis, using data from wearable automated cameras, to objectively docu-

ment children’s marketing exposureacross and within settings. Results

show children were exposed to an averageof 638 marketing encounters

per day. The most common form of marketing exposure was to brand

labeling, and marketing for food and beverages the dominant product

category. This article providesan objective observation of the commer-

cial world of children in a wide range of settings, presenting unique

insights and a new analysis method for documenting children’senviron-

mental advertising exposure to inform policy decisions about the ethics

and practices of marketing to children.

In recent years, the scope and scale of marketing to children has increased

substantially (Common Sense Media 2014), and consumer researchers

across the globe have noted increasing commercial pressures on chil-

dren (Bailey Report 2011; United Nations (UN) 2014; Valkenburg 2000).

Specically, concern has been raised that children are exposedto a growing

number and range of commercial messages in a wider variety of contexts

and forms, in a more systematic and integrated manner, and across mul-

tiple media in physical and digital spaces than ever before. It has been

Leah Watkins (leah.watkins@otago.ac.nz) is Senior Lecturer at University of Otago, Dunedin,

New Zealand. Robert Aitken (rob.aitken@otago.ac.nz) is Associate Professor at University of

Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Ryan Gage (ryan.gage@otago.ac.nz) is Assistant Research Fellow

at University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand. Moira B. Smith (moira.smith@otago.ac.nz)

is Senior Research Fellow at University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand. Tim J. Chambers

(tim.chambers@otago.ac.nz) and Michelle Barr (michelle.barr@otago.ac.nz) are Assistant Research

Fellows at Universityof Otago, Wellington, New Zealand. James Stanley (james.stanley@otago.ac.nz)

is Research Fellow at University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand. Louise N. Signal

(louise.signal@otago.ac.nz) is Professor at University of Otago, Wellington,New Zealand.

The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Winter 2019: 1396–1420

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12234

Copyright 2018 by The American Council on Consumer Interests

WINTER 2019 VOLUME 53, NUMBER 4 1397

acknowledged that the cumulative effect of such exposure on children’s

well-being needs to be better understood (Oates, Watkins,and Thyne 2016;

UN 2014). However, existing research provides accounts of the nature and

extent of marketing via single media, especially television (Common Sense

Media 2014), and on a limited range of products (e.g., food marketing)

(Cairns et al. 2013). While collectively this research provides a picture of

the ubiquitous presence of marketing in children’senvironments, children’s

actual exposure to the full range of marketing across all media and in mul-

tiple settings remains unknown (Clarke and Svanaes 2012; Common Sense

Media 2014).

Wearable cameras are a new technology that may have the potential to

provide the rst account of children’s total exposure to marketing across

media and settings. Prior work has established the feasibility of using them

to assess a range of public health issues including children’s exposure

to food marketing, physical activity, alcohol, and sun safety behavior

(Barr et al. 2015; Chambers et al. 2017; Gage et al. 2017; Kelly et al.

2011, 2012). The aim of the current study is to assess the feasibility, and

practicality, of coding and analyzing existing image data from wearable

cameras to record participant’s actual exposure to all marketing (including

social marketing) across different media and in a variety of settings, and

to assess, more broadly, the value of this method of coding and analysis to

provide evidence to answer a range of questions about children’smarketing

environments and their consumption behavior.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Children have long been a target for advertisers, butsince the 1980s they

have been subjected to a substantial increase in marketing (Kraak, Goot-

man, and McGinnis 2006; Schor 2004). The deregulation of children’s

television, the proliferation of electronic media, and the growing global

economy have all been shown to contribute to this unprecedented esca-

lation of commercialism in children’s lives (Levin and Linn 2004). For

example, in 1983 U.S. marketers spent approximately $100 million target-

ing children, an amount that doubled during the 1990s. Currently, world-

wide spending on advertising to children in 2018 is reported to exceed

US$4 billion, with US$3.2 billion on nondigital advertising and US$0.9

billion on digital forms (https://www.statista.com/statistics/750865/kids-

advertising-spending-worldwide). Online advertising to children is pre-

dicted to reach US$1.2 billion by 2019; however,to date, television remains

the dominant medium (https://www.marketingdive.com/news/pwc-kids-

digital-ad-market- to-hit-12b- by-2019/504619/).