Coalition Urges FTC to Investigate Deceptive Marketing Seen on New YouTube Kids App

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A coalition comprised 10 consumer watchdog groups has filed an official complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging them to investigate YouTube’s new kids app, which was launched on February 23, 2015.

According to a blog post from Food Politics, the group has charged YouTube with violating section 5 of the FTC act.

In a letter the group sent to the FTC on April 7, 2014, the coalition provides examples of how the new kids app deceptively targets kids with ads for toys and junk food. The group claims that the app:

• Uses advertising and programming in ways that deceive young children;
• Features “branded channels” for companies like McDonald’s, Barbie, and Fisher-Price; and
• Distributes so called “user-generated” segments that feature items like toys, food, and candy, without disclosing their business relationships.

Should YouTube be allowed to market products to children in this way?

Read more about this in an article from the Washington Post.

Learn more about how junk food marketers target Latino kids with unhealthy ads and what you can do about it, by accessing Salud America!‘s Growing Healthy Change Healthier Marketing resources here.