Because online marketing is light-years ahead of the television, radio, billboard and magazine advertising we're used to, in its power to engage and its ability to target individual, young consumers. Let's just stop to consider for a minute, the differences between television advertising and Internet marketing, in terms of their power to captivate children. There are standards in Canada for television advertising to children. Advertisers may not mislead children. Internet advertising is unregulated and knows no national boundaries.
Television advertising engages children as passive consumers who watch and listen.
And if children have divulged information about themselves on a site, the marketer can come back knocking on their door, using e-mail or even regular mail. Television advertising sells products by exploiting lifestyles, wishes and desires. TV advertisers purchase time between TV shows, which they select because these programs attract a specific audience that they hope to appeal to. Internet advertisers create their own programming. The sound even goes up when an ad comes on.