An Australian communications researcher is asking for greater regulation of the growing practice of children selling toys as paid social media influencers.
“Often, these are the kids of celebrities who form lucrative partnerships with brands to maximise engagement and ‘sales power’ – Dr. Catherine Archer of Edith Cowan University, said in Wednesday’s statement.
“Our study highlighted key concerns around issues of privacy, commodification, and the gendered and ‘hidden’ marketing of kid’s toys via ‘promoting articles’.”
In a latest article published in M/C LogArcher says the expansion of social media has enabled marketers to achieve children 24/7.
She noted that the number of children owning their very own tablets rose from lower than 1% in 2011 to 42% in 2017 – a trend that continues to grow.
![](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000010558012.jpg?w=1024)
“Where once kid’s television reigned supreme as a sales tool for kids’s brands, the marketing of kid’s toys now often will depend on having the fitting social media influencer, many of whom are children themselves,” Archer explained.
Many social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram require their users to be at the least 13 years old, but some younger kids are finding ways to post online.
Archer studied the posts of an 11-year-old Australian “kidfluencer” Pixie Curtis and her 8 12 months old brother Hunter Curtis. Mom takes care of them Roxy Jacenkoformer director of PR firm Sweaty Betty.
The youngsters boast hundreds of Instagram followers, with Pixie starting her account before she was 2 years old and her brother coming even earlier when he turned one 12 months old, in line with the paper.
Jacenko now runs an influencer talent company called Ministry of Talent. She told The Post on Wednesday that she knew nothing in regards to the study.
![To support the article, she studied two](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000010558020.jpg?w=1024)
Archer analyzed kid’s posts from March to July 2022, noting different hashtags they used and the toy brands they mentioned.
Two things stood out: “high-gender toy promotion” and the promotion of “high-end, aspirational” toys that will be sold to teenagers, teens, and adults.
Archer argued that this sort of effect on toys could confuse consumers, especially children.
“‘Kidfluencers’ blurs the lines between what we consider traditional toys and objects of adult desire,” she said.
“High-end adult products akin to make-up, cars and ‘dress-up’ clothes are being promoted surreptitiously alongside more traditional toys.”
![She also said that it is difficult for children to understand the line between an adult toy and a child's toy.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000010558016.jpg?w=1024)
Archer is asking for more regulation of “kidfluencing”, raising concerns in regards to the sexualization of influential young girls on Instagram.
“Gender marketing of toys and the increased deal with girls’ looks via Instagram may very well be damaging to kid’s self-esteem and there are concerns in regards to the further commodification of childhood,” Archer said.
“More research is required and maybe a very good start could be to talk over with children about their views on the content they eat – often business ads masquerading as cute content.”
![The study was published in the M/C Journal.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000010558025.jpg?w=1024)
In 2020, one other study found that YouTube influencers were “secretly” promoting unhealthy food to their audience.
By analyzing 418 videos shot by top five YouTubers aged 3 to 14, researchers determined that just about half contained some type of food or drink.
90% of these videos featured branded fast food products akin to McDonald’s.