At this point we are publishing a comment that we received on May 3, 2019 from a 16-year-old student.
And that advertising again!
YouTube – originally a website for uploading music videos. And today it is the new television. At least it is for children and young people who grew up with it.
The so-called “influencers” who use the platform as their profession may have an audience of millions. The label “advertising” appears again and again in these videos. What this means and what is real and what is advertising is discussed in the article “The influence of YouTube stars on children and young people” by Ariadne Helbig from the online edition of Zeit from February 11, 2018.
Whether it's a make-up video, vlog or cooking video, you see products being held directly in front of the camera.
The YouTubers receive these products in the form of gifts, with the manufacturer's hope that the children will run to the store the next day to buy them. In contrast to television, where there is a commercial break, the labeling of advertising on videos on YouTube is a strict regulation in Germany; the rest is viewed as surreptitious advertising.
The young people are influenced by such advertisements.
They no longer see the separation of what is real and what is advertising. The result is constant shopping for the products that the YouTubers also use at home. At least that's what the author thinks. But it's actually not like that. From experience, not every product is bought immediately. Especially as you get older, you give up on it.
Unlike stars on television, YouTubers are viewed as “friends” or “big siblings.” And you always want to have what everyone else has, right? This makes the product attractive to young people and they are automatically influenced subconsciously.
So how can you explain to young people how to properly deal with advertising on the Internet?
Well, it's always important to teach them to critically question everything regarding the media. There is also the possibility of holding workshops that specialize in the topic of Internet advertising. The only important thing is that you finally understand how much advertising is actually hidden in such a small video!
A comment from Emelie W. (16)
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )