Videos of children opening toy boxes and playing with them have become a feature of online marketing – starring children as young as two.
For example, twelve-year-old influencer Ryan Kazee earns US$30 million a year on YouTube, one of the most popular children’s channels. His empire was built on unboxing toys.
Influencers with over 1 million followers (kids or adults) can earn upwards of $20,000 per sponsored post, while those with less than 100,000 followers Social media platform You can still earn as much as $4,000 for each sponsored post.
But the rise of kidfluencers around the world raises questions about the blurred lines between play and labor, freedom and control, privacy, profit and online success.
Our research examines these questions. By analyzing existing research to clearly identify the challenges faced by child toy unboxers, we can guide future researchers and governments to best support children living parts of their lives online.
YouTube as a career goal
A global survey of children aged between eight and 12 in 2023 found that they are three times more likely to want to be a YouTuber (29%) than an astronaut (11%).
Advertisers have taken notice. Social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube generated approximately $11 billion in advertising revenue in 2022 from users under the age of 18 in the United States.
Toy unboxing has emerged as particularly popular, generating huge revenues and a global audience. These types of videos involve kids unboxing, playing with, and reviewing toys.
Unboxing videos became popular in the 2010s, with content creators unpacking products such as tech gadgets and fashion items. Toy unboxing is now one of the highest grossing genres on YouTube.
Privacy and online security are two major issues faced by the Kidfluncer industry. (Source: Freepik)
Work, play or somewhere in between
At first glance, unboxing videos seem to follow a simple entertainer-viewer relationship. Kidfluncers emotionally engage with young audiences, who are then inspired to create their own toy wish lists.
But behind the fun lies a world of complexity that is often not clear to younger viewers (and sometimes even older viewers).
These children are hired by companies – and managed by their parents – to promote toys and other products in a job-like arrangement. This has raised concerns about child exploitation, privacy risks and unethical work practices.
But current child labor laws in New Zealand and elsewhere do not see child influencers as a type of “child worker”. And it’s hard to do.
While kidfluencers Sponsored toys seem to be playing really well, their content is governed by contracts with advertisers and expectations set by their parents. So it cannot be fully labeled as “play”.
At the same time, calling these practices purely “labor” ignores the real excitement kids feel when creating sponsored content.
In 2020, the French government labeled Kidfluncers a “grey zone” – where a child is not officially working, but nevertheless spends a significant amount of time making videos, or receives a significant level of income from them.
Protecting children
Another complication is that some social media platforms require users to be over 13, but some Kidfluncers are children, with parents creating and managing their children’s accounts, including producing and posting content online.
While parents play a larger role in managing their child’s online presence, the child drives toy sales, creating a tension between parental control and child freedom.
And behind it is the issue of money. A child’s engagement – and success – is driven by the wants and needs of advertisers. This raises the question of how much say the child actually has in creating content.
Privacy and online security are two major issues faced by the Kidfluncer industry. The more content Child Toy Unboxer posts online, the more popular and profitable it can become. But at the same time, popularity brings very real risks.
Young female unboxers – and female kidfluencers in general – have been targeted by online predators. To be safe, some Kidfluncers use fake names and don’t share their location. But these strategies are not perfect.
Current (and proposed) policies rarely balance the protection of child stars with supporting their success in sponsored content.
In recent years, however, individual states in France and the United States have enacted laws to protect the earnings of kidflunchers.
All governments should follow suit and create policies that recognize the challenges of the KidFluencer industry and support and protect the children involved.
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