'YouTube Kids Paid Millions to Promote Junk Food'

01:21 Oct 24, 2023
'NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Youtubers who are kids and have popular Youtube channels are known as “kidfluencers”. And, according to a new study, these “kidfluencers” are being paid very big money to promote junk food and sugary drinks in their videos.  Researchers from the New York University School of Global Public Health looked at the five most-watched YouTube “kidfluencers” and analyzed their most popular videos, focusing on the way branded food products were shown in the videos.  They found that “kidfluencer” videos featuring food and drinks were viewed 1 billion times – and 90 percent of these videos featured junk food from unhealthy brands, such as McDonalds.  These “kidfluencers” are often filmed by their parents conducting science experiments, reviewing toys, celebrating birthdays or trying out new food — and they get paid whopping amounts by advertisers.   The highest-paid YouTube kidfluencer of the past two years is Ryan Kaji – a nine-year-old from Texas who appears in his own YouTube series, called Ryan\'s World.   The series, which features basic science experiments, challenges, arts and crafts, and the unboxing of toys, earned 26 million dollars last year, researchers say.   That’s right, this kid made 26 million dollars in one year, just talking about toys and food and stuff. Let that sink in.  SOURCES: NY TImes, Pediatrics Journal, New York University https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/well/family/Youtube-children-junk-food-child-obesity.html https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/10/22/peds.2019-4057 https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2020/october/kid-influencers-junk-food.html' 

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