Laws like the Children’s Television Act of 1990 were created to limit the amount of advertising that companies could show kids on broadcast TV. Not so, it seems, with online streaming websites like YouTube.
Fight for the Future launched a scorecard on Wednesday to examine brands that typically advertise to kids and if they advertise on YouTube.
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YouTube Advertising Scorecard
On the scorecard, a “smile” means the brand won’t advertise on YouTube; a “frown” means they do advertise on YouTube, and a “question mark” designates brands that haven’t given an answer.
Sarah Roth-Gaudette, Executive Director of Fight for the Future:
As parents and privacy advocates, we see real harm coming from YouTube’s addictive video recommendations, targeted advertising, and privacy-violating data collection. Our kids and teens already spend enough time sitting behind a screen—the last thing we want is Google manipulating them into even worse habits.
Most of the scorecard is comprised of these non-answers, but the site also includes a form to sign a petition to call on companies to boycott YouTube advertising.
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