Insta-‘kidfluencers’ on the rise, despite risks of child exploitation: study

A communication researcher in Australia is calling for more regulation of the growing practice of kids hawking toys as paid social media influencers.

“These are often children of celebrities who develop lucrative partnerships with brands to maximize engagement and ‘selling power,’” Dr. Catherine Archer, of Edith Cowan University, said in a statement Wednesday.

“Our study has highlighted key concerns regarding privacy issues, commodification, and gendered and ‘stealth’ marketing of toys to children through ‘advertorials.’”

In a new paper published in the M/C Journal, Archer argues that the rise of social media has presented marketers with a way to reach kids 24/7.

She noted the number of children who own their own tablets rose from less than 1% in 2011 to 42% in 2017 — a trend that continues to grow.

“Where children’s television once reigned supreme as a vehicle for sales of kids’ brands, the marketing of children’s toys now often hinges on having the right social media influencer, many of them children themselves,” Archer explained.

Many social media platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, require their users to be at least 13, but some kids younger than that find a way to post online.

Archer studied posts by 11-year-old Australian “kidfluencer” Pixie Curtis and her 8-year-old brother, Hunter Curtis. They are managed by their mom, Roxy Jacenko, the former director of PR firm Sweaty Betty.

The kids boast thousands of followers on Instagram, with Pixie having her account before she was 2, and her brother’s coming even earlier, when he turned 1, according to the paper.

Jacenko now runs an influencer talent company called Ministry of Talent. The Post reached out to her for comment.

Archer analyzed the children’s posts from March to July 2022, noting the different hashtags they used and toy brands they mentioned.

Two things stuck out: The “highly gendered promotion of toys” and a promotion of “high-end, aspirational” toys that could be marketed to tweens, teens, and adults.

Archer reasoned that this kind of influencing for toys can confuse consumers, especially children.

“’Kidfluencers’ are blurring the lines between what we consider traditional toys with adult objects of desire,” she said.

“High-end adult products such as make-up, cars and clothes for ‘dressing-up’ are being promoted by stealth, alongside more traditional toys.” 

Archer is calling for more regulation of “kidfluencing,” raising concerns about the sexualization of young girl influencers on Instagram.

“Gendered marketing of toys and increased focus on appearance for girls through Instagram can be harmful to children’s self-esteem, and there are concerns regarding the continued commodification of childhood,” Archer said.

“More research is needed, and perhaps a good place to start would be to talk to children about their views on the content they consume — often commercially focused advertorials masquerading as cute content.”

In 2020, another study found that child influencers on YouTube were “stealthily” promoting junk food to their audiences.

Analyzing 418 videos from the top five YouTubers between the ages of 3 and 14, researchers determined that just under half featured some kind of food or drink product.

90% of those videos showed branded fast food items, like McDonald’s.