I've been fascinated with the amount of 'er buzz that WOMMA's (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) has received with the publication of their Code of Ethics.
Specifically, the National Institute on Media and the Family (ridiculously acronymed as NIMF) has gone ballistic, taken out ads in Ad Age, placed online ads etc expressing their disagreement in the amount of protection (or the lack thereof) afforded to minors (13-16 year olds to be exact)
I don't really know where to begin on this one because there are just so many things to talk about...
- on one level, this shows the danger of trying to formalize or control any degree of organic viral or word-of-mouth dissemination
- on another level, this does stink of hypocrisy. Gee, it's ok to advertise right after the introduction of Dora the Explora or give away My Little Pony gifts at McDonalds, but suddenly 13-16 year olds are being thought of as helpless and vulnerable victims at the mercy of ruthless marketers or more specifically, predators, perverts and stalkers....
Don't get me wrong...in no way would I dare to do anything that compromises the safety and security of our children, but there's an elephant in the room. Our kids are smarter than we are and if we knew a tenth of the things they do - on or off the Web - we'd probably lock them up until they were 18 years old.
