Research on Children and Advertising Then and Now: Challenges and Opportunities for Future Research

New forms of advertising to children (such as “unboxing videos” and “vlogs”) necessitate new studies and examinations of ethics, advertising literacy, and regulations. At the same time, it is useful to reexamine and question assumptions about traditional media and persuasion tactics. This special issue on children and advertising offers seven articles that question the status quo or present findings on new tactics and new interventions. The articles feature different methods (history, experiment, field experiment, survey), participants (children and adolescents from ages six to 17), and scholars or participants living in different countries (Australia, Belgium, France, Indonesia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States). This editorial introduces the special issue on children and advertising by highlighting the contributions of each of the seven articles within the broader context of advertising and children. A brief review of past research on children in the Journal of Advertising, including a special issue in 1998, is presented, followed by specific suggestions for future research. Finally, the challenges of conducting research with children and some ideas to overcome those challenges are presented.