Watch Out for Advergames
Food Companies are Targeting Tweens in a Big Way
Advergames appeal to tweens because they are fun. They appeal to marketers because they mean more brand name exposure for popular foods. Find out the connection here.
Tweens love candy, sweet cereals, and all kinds of other fun foods. So, marketers have found a unique niche in appealing to tweens by offering advergames on popular food websites, such as Kellogg's FunKtown and The Nesquick Club House.
What are Advergames?
Advergames are free online games featuring popular name brand products, characters, and logos. The purpose of the games is two-fold. First, they attract tweens because of their action and great graphics. Second, they provide opportunities to place the name of their product in front of kids multiple times as they are playing these games. This in turn makes kids beg for the product that they have seen. Usually you can find the URL to these game sites on the boxes of cereals, fruit snacks, candy bars, and other such products.
What's in it for Marketers?
Marketers have found very deliberate ways to market to the millions of tweens that play their advergames. Some games require a special code to unlock characters, while others offer prizes and rewards for buying a specific product and entering the code online. There is no real harm done, as they are, by law, required to give out the prizes they advertise, but it puts a real strain on parents to hear kids constantly wanting to buy these products just to get the prizes and play the games. Do the kids even eat the stuff?
What happens is kids are more likely to stick around and play the advergames for longer than 30 seconds, which is the amount of time for a TV commercial slot, having kids exposed to their products for a longer period of time. Some advergames even encourage kids to invite friends to play, which helps spread the word about their products.
Related Statistics
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a research in January 2007 of 77 major food websites aimed at kids, and found that a staggering 73% of them offered at least one advergame. And, 38% of these sites offered prizes or rewards available only by purchasing a specific brand of food and entering the code online, as mentioned above.
Are There Any Real Dangers?
As mentioned above, there are no real risks in kids playing these games. They are free and most are very interactive and "cool" by tween standards. Parents may want to be aware of the fact that manyof the companies hosting advergames are foods that are high-calorie and low-nutrient foods. The games may be safe, but the products themselves may not be wise food choices, if eaten in excess.
