A new generation of young people aged 10 to 19 years-old are now avid shoppers. They have more pocket money, more influence over family spending and more sway over social trends. Yet they are reported to be the least happy generation of the post-war era.

They are relentlessly targeted by companies and advertisers, on television, on the internet, in magazines, in music videos, in films, and research shows that they are not always able to distinguish ads from 'real' content.  They also say that they feel ripped off by providers ranging  from mobile phone companies to newsagents.

The NCC has placed listening to children's views at the heart of its advocacy to ensure that the rights of children are protected. We promote their active involvement in shaping the world around them.

Fair game?

New research shows that children need better protection from the opaque commercial practices on their favourite websites.

NCC, Childnet International and expert in marketing to children, Dr Agnes Nairn teamed up to author the report – Fair game? Assessing commercial activity on children’s favourite websites and online environments.

Findings include:

• the majority of the country’s 7-16 year olds are established internet users and are attracted not just to kids’ sites but to those aimed at adults too. A quarter of adverts on children’s best-loved sites are aimed at adults – such as gambling and dating services.
  
• children are often unable to tell where factual or entertainment content ends and advertising begins. Almost a quarter of adverts are integrated into content and nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of these are not labelled as ads.

Click here to read the press release. Click here to download the full report.

Watching, wanting and wellbeing

There is growing public concern that heavy media exposure is making our children more
materialistic and that this, in turn, has a negative impact on their psychological wellbeing.

This study – the first attempt to examine the empirical links between watching, wanting and wellbeing in UK children – has been conducted in the hopes that by providing some working definitions, reliable measurement tools and robust evidence it will help academics, policy-makers and everyone who works with children to gain an increased understanding of the issues.

The report's findings include that:

Children who spend more time in front of the TV or computer screen are more materialistic.
Children who are more materialistic tend to have lower self-esteem.
They have a lower opinion of their parents.
Children who have a poor opinion of their parents also argue with them more.
Children who have a poor opinion of their parents also have a poor opinion of themselves.
Click here to read the press release.

Click here to downlaod the report.