Marketing And Children

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Recommended: Advertising in the lives of youth

American children are consumers of media and are exposed to a plethora of messages on a daily basis, most targeted directly at them (Neeley 2004). And there are not just one, but at least three groups who are out to take advertising to children out back for a spanking! One example of marketing towards the youth market is the Kellogg's website "Fun-K-Town". The site is devoted solely to kids and their "favorite" breakfast brands through the use of games. The site is looked at in depth below.

Section 1: Marketing or Entertainment

You might think a lot of money goes into putting together a website such as this, especially with a decent selection of games. The truth though, is that these games cost less than more traditional forms of advertising (Linn 2005) and kids are spending more time on the web these days, so it only makes sense to utilize the format's potential. Costs are kept down more because, while there are a number of games on the site, it is very minimal in the graphic department and the games are very simple. Perfect for the targeted demographic. I have to wonder how much fanfare Kellogg's put around the launch of this site. As was mentioned in the outline for this assignment; "This website did not launch itself without a press release...". That may be true, but the company doesn't make it very easy to find! What was easy to find though were a few reviews of the site. The review are mixed and from what I read seem unbiased. Most of the reviews were average, while a few were very high, some even gave the site awards for things like "Site if the Day". As I had expected, especially with the company getting sued, most of the reviews I read brought up the amount of advertising that is on the website. This fa...

... middle of paper ...

...ldren on the site.

Kellogg's Fun K Town: kid games, activities, prizes

http://www.kelloggs.com/funktown/index2.htm

Polly, Jean Armour, Kellogg's Fun K Town – Website review, Commonsense media, September 4, 2005

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/reviews/review.php?id=4354&type=Website

Kellogg's Fun K Town – Website review, Kidz World

http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p5798.htm

Kinnegig, A.A.M, "Loyalty in the Modern World", January 1, 2004

http://www.highbeam.com/library/docFree.asp?DOCID=1G1:120037472

Wrigley's Candystand

http://www.candystand.com/index.do

Linn, Susan (speaker), "Advergaming", Marketplace, January 27, 2005

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2005/01/27/PM200501274.html

Neeley, Sabrina and Schumann, David, "Using animated Spokes-Characters in Advertising to Young Children"Journal of Advertising, Vol. 33 No. 3 Fall 2004, pp. 7-23

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