Hooking them young? “Amazon Teen” is targeting kids on Snapchat
Because it’s apparently not enough to have parents ordering cereal and watching The Man In The High Castle on Amazon Prime, the retail behemoth has been marketing a new-ish service called Amazon Teen to encourage youngsters to make their own purchases through their parents’ Prime accounts. In a comprehensive Twitter thread, Atlantic writer Taylor Lorenz breaks down how Amazon has been using Snapchat to target teens with a gaggle of teen-related tropes.
Amazon is apparently aggressively spamming kids on Snapchat with ads for “Amazon Teen” trying to get them hooked on Prime early https://t.co/LOauDpXido pic.twitter.com/riJMDUoT3Z
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) November 29, 2018
Just skateboarding to prom like an average teen pic.twitter.com/PyEkcMbMOL
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) November 29, 2018
The teen shop is all heavily curated products from influencers pic.twitter.com/R9l1aVpVKf
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) November 29, 2018
As a teenager (turning 18 in 3 weeks) I can confirm that this is ALL over Snapchat. Who’s parents are gonna let their kids use their card to buy crap on Amazon?
— ????™? (@beveragegod) November 29, 2018
The Amazon Teen homepage says the service–which lets teens and parents keep their purchases separate–is only available for kids between 13 and 17, which brings up the potential regulatory minefield of advertising to children. The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority, for example, considers anyone under 16 a child and has strict rules regarding how companies can market to them.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about its Snapchat campaign.
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