Children targeted in marketing blitz

Jody Dillon runs WoodenToys.ie, an online store which sells “a carefully selected range of quality wooden toys with educational and developmental value” and he contacted us recently with some strong views on how toys are marketed to children. We think it will strike a chord with many parents of young children.

He set up the company in 2005 when his first daughter Leah was two-years-old. “I found it difficult finding quality toys for Leah and was frustrated with all the mass market plastic ware out there. I wanted something different to Bratz (below), Barbies and the like.”

He says the source of his frustration “is that children are targeted by these advertising campaigns at a superficial level. Careful thought is put into these advertisements to basically make a child think they want something that isn’t necessarily any fun for them”.

He says the “best and most personally distressing example I can think of is that of my daughter Noémie who was three years-old at Christmas 2009. More than anything in this world she wanted a tiger cub she saw on TV. The ads showed it moving and making sounds and of course, a gaggle of ecstatic children playing with it. Having bought such a thing before for our eldest daughter, we knew what little play value this toy would have for her,” Dillon writes.

“It was expensive and would gobble up quite a bit of her Christmas allowance. However, no amount of explaining would change the fact that this is what she wanted. As parents (and also as a child who was disappointed at Christmas myself) we knew not to deny her the gift she had requested even though we knew it was just a hunk of plastic filled with batteries and noisy electric motors that would be ditched in a corner by St Stephen’s Day. Honestly, I swear our child was deceived into thinking she was getting a real live pet tiger cub for Christmas. Knowing so much better was so distressing for us as parents.”

He says that is the heart of the issue. “It is the level of deception involved. It’s easy to deceive a vulnerable three year-old child on TV. And a three year-old child is not fair prey in my opinion. I’m not a child psychologist but would love to hear one’s thoughts on the subject. Children process information on a much more superficial level so I believe the standards applied to the advertising of products aimed at children should be appropriately set. Perhaps easier than it sounds, perhaps they shouldn’t be targets at all?”

He points out that television “is a scarcely rationed luxury” in his household and while his children’s exposure is limited “it’s obviously enough to still leave them open to this kind of commercial predation”.

Gas price increase and an under-estimated bill

Ronan O’Connor recently received his bi-monthly gas bill from Bord Gáis Energy and noticed that the amount due was much smaller than expected and that it was an estimated reading. The actual reading was almost double the estimate. He also noticed that the usage was charged at two different rates, one for 39 days and one for 14 days, due to the recent price increase.

He phoned Bord Gáis Energy to get an amended bill but was told that this is no longer their policy and that it would be amended on the next bill.

“When I asked if the under-estimated reading would be charged at the old or new (20 per cent more expensive) price, I was advised that it would be at the new rate. I pointed out that based on a breakdown of my bill, most of the usage would have been during the period when the old rate applied and that therefore, I was being overcharged.”

O’Connor was told that someone else had also raised this issue but there was nothing that they could do.

“When I mentioned that I would be reporting this to the Energy Regulator, I was put on hold for a few minutes and they advised me of the new bill amount based on ‘corrected’ usage. It remains to be seen if, and how, this will be handled when my next bill is issued.

He says the amount involved is around €5, “but if Bord Gáis is providing under-estimated bills to its customers during price-increase period, the additional amount it is billing is quite significant.”