If you haven't seen the commercial yet, you can find it on YouTube. I refuse to post it as I REALLY dislike it, but it features two young "hipster" kids, one of whom states he is nine years old, using the phone, and showing off the apps they use. My first beef with this commercial is why is it highlighting nine year olds having cell phones? Why does a nine year old need a cell phone? I am sure I am not the only parent/teacher who feels this way. But my bigger beef is with one of the apps that the kids are using...Twitter?
Don't get me wrong. I love Twitter. But I am also older than 13 which is what the policy is for having an account on social media sites made for adults...like Twitter...and facebook. And there is a reason for that, not to mention a law about it. Ever heard of COPPA? Do nine year olds really need to be on a site where they may be "exposed to Content that might be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate, or in some cases, postings that have been mislabeled or are otherwise deceptive"? This comes directly from Twitter's terms of use, by the way. Twitter also states "Our Services are not directed to persons under 13. If you become aware that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us at privacy@twitter.com. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we take steps to remove such information and terminate the child's account. You can find additional resources for parents and teens here."
Clearly, Twitter does not want children under 13 using their site. And I should think not, since it would violate COPPA. It makes me wonder why Twitter hasn't gotten this commercial removed or changed. Maybe they feel it would look bad considering they are for free speech. But there is also a such thing as responsibility in advertising.
I get that the purpose of the commercial is to make money and to show how easy the phone is to use, but do nine year olds really need to be used for that? What about using grandparents to show how easy easy the technology is to use since the commercial is supposed to be funny? Right? Or am I missing the point totally?
The phone is sold by AT&T. So I say shame on both Amazon and AT&T. Totally irresponsible advertising.
Okay. Rant over.
I saw this commercial too, and I totally agree. Let's not forget the media items they're referencing. Does a 9-year-old really read Lean In? Should a 9-year-old be watching Skyfall?
ReplyDeleteIt's almost as if they made this commercial to be a discussion between adults, and then thought it would be cute to substitute children. As a fellow techy-teacher (I teach HS), I am not impressed either.
I thought the same thing about the Hunger Games app. And the little girl has the Twitter app on her phone, too, she just doesn't mention it. Just plain irresponsible advertising. So sad. Thanks for your comments. =)
DeleteI hated the commercial so much that I Googled "Does anyone else hate the new Amazon Fire commercial" and found your blog!! Ha ha...no joke. I think the commercial is one of the worst in the already-extremely-annoying-and-hackneyed genre of commercials that have kids talking and acting "grown-up"... "Oh, look how cute that 9-yr old is, wearing that hip outfit and speaking so authoritatively with the WSJ vocabulary!" -- Umm, no, it's not cute...it's obnoxious and overdone!! In this regard, I think the previous commentator was right... I almost think that the advertisers were not so much saying that the product is good for kids or trying to target the apps for kids, but rather just resorting to the "schtick" of having kids in a grown-up style exchange.
ReplyDeleteI hate that commercial, too, with a burning passion. What the heck were the idiot commercial writers thinking when they made this?? I agree with whoever said they could've had a pair of grandparents using the phones. Did they HAVE to have the kids in this, acting like old people?
ReplyDeleteHATE HATE HATE HATE this commercial and the other one with these annoying kids.
ReplyDeleteuuuhhhh he's sitting on a pile of cash form selling his start-up.
Gag me with a spoon. Makes me NEVER want to buy anything from Amazon again.
I can't express how much it creeped me out that it also depicts kids interacting with strange grown ups.
ReplyDeleteI mean, why the heck depict vulnerable kids alone in settings and creepy adults addressing them?
Just wanted to add my hate to the pile.
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd commercial, which Phillip mentioned above, is even worse. Who wants to see some know-it-all kid talking about his investment properties and his pile of cash from his start-up when some of us are trying to just pay our bills?
And then the two adults are just dumbfounded, you know, cuz adults are soooo stooopid.
This it not cute, it's annoying.