An analytical study on digital advertising and its impact on children

Information Technology has actually made a momentous bang in every potential business. IT revolution has made conventional concepts look eccentric and conceptual and inferred knowledge take tangible meaningful forms, applications and has opened a whole new way of communication. It has connected the world in multiple ways and has also opened new paradigms, vistas and challenges. A powerful global digital marketing system—designed to deliver personalised interactive commercial messages wherever we are—is emerging as one of the principal features of the internet era. Advertisers and marketers around the world are collaborating to perfect what they are calling a media and marketing ecosystem. With the advent of digital marketing platforms there are manifold alternatives available and the communication process has become two ways as against one way in past. Due to fervent use of new media and increased spending power, children and teens have become major targets of new media and marketing ecosystem. The digital flea market is undergoing hasty innovation as latest technologies and software applications persist to reshape the media background and user behaviours. In this context the present paper makes a modest attempt to highlight the Indian Digital Advertising Industry and gives broad overview of the research literature concerned with the impact of the Digital Advertising on children. The literature review reveals children‘s use of digital devices on an international scale and focus on digital advertising and advertising to children. Literature from emerging economies sight digital advertising as an influential and successful tool, but they do not essentially deem the probable harmful effects on children. The paper also emphasizes the negative cognitive and psychological impact of internet and mobile advertising on children and the various Indian cyberlaws relating to it. The present paper reviews that self-regulation is undoubtedly of value and it is a need of an hour for government to set up a regulatory body and formal safeguards for advertisers and marketers.