Los youtubers infantiles están en la cresta de la ola. Sus canales forman parte del contenido más popular de YouTube, y uno de los formatos más populares entre estos pequeños influencers es el unboxing. Es ese momento en el que, con cierta habilidad y emoción, los protagonistas abren juguetes nuevos y los prueban, pasándoselo en grande delante de sus seguidores, que, por cierto, también son menores. Dentro de lo que cabe, hasta ahí todo es normal, según comenta el psicólogo clínico y experto en adicciones Sergio García Soriano. “Abrir juguetes es divertido para todo niño y es un mecanismo que funciona en todas las edades porque genera curiosidad e interés. Es el momento sorpresa donde todo puede ser”, dice.

It is also expected that spectators feel tempted to imitate their youtubers and want to play (and many times to speak) like them: "You learn by imitation, we will always play that we play like someone". Pero imitar a alguien que está al otro lado de la pantalla, y no a otro niño de carne y hueso que juega físicamente a su lado, elimina todas las bondades de la interacción y la socialización.For this reason, the psychologist warns that parents must be attentive: "This practice could be harmful if there was an abuse of this type of content or if the child was not supervised by an adult".

But it is not only a matter of excess.It is also the message.Unboxing seems like a ‘over -overpology’ of consumption.“What really worries is that these‘ youtubers ’are a behavior model for other children, to associate success for obtaining economic benefits in exchange for their privacy and intimacy. Los pequeños que ven e imitan este modelo asimilarán la idea de ceder parcelas de su vida privada”, explica Guillemo Cánovas, director del Observatorio para la Promoción del Uso Saludable de la Tecnología EducaLike.And that remains forever.

"It is important to teach them from small guidelines about the importance of not facilitating personal data, not publicly counting their concerns or ways of thinking, because they can affect them in the future," says Cánovas. “Además, conviene evitar que asocien el éxito al consumo o que una persona de éxito se defina como quien consigue cosas gratis, porque esto hace que se altere la cadena de valores del esfuerzo y el trabajo”, apostilla el experto. Los padres aquí son esenciales para trabajar la autoestima."If the child thinks that it is worth depending on the number of followers or‘ likes ’, he will be frustrated and repess negatively on the vision of himself".

No one denies the talent and self -confidence with which these children develop in front of the camera, the close language they use and the joy they display when trying new toys, but it should not be ignored that we are facing advertising promotions addressed to the public childish."It is the other face of what we try to convey from the pedagogical point of view," says Cánovas.“We are trying that children are not mere internet consumers but become content generators. Pero crear un canal en el que uno habla de sus gustos, habla sobre los juguetes con los que juega o vende cosas, no es un papel activo ni enriquecer internet ni crear contenidos de calidad. Es publicidad”, afirma el experto.

The richest child in the world is ‘Youtuber’

Forbes magazine has included Ryan Kaji as one of the best paid YouTubers of 2020.Invoice 29 million dollars (about 24 million euros), and is not a clairvoyant entrepreneur of Silicon Valley or a Hollywood star.It is not a worldwide financial magnate.Ryan Kaji is a 9 -year -old boy.In Spain, the rattas are an example of a successful children's channel, followed by more than 22.1 million fans.It is starred by the Sisters Claudia and Gisele, 8 and 9 years old, in whose history is a video with more than 750 million visualizations.In the Mikel Tube channel, Mikel and his brother Leo have almost 7 million followers, more than many adult youtubers could aspire.

Andrea Santamaría, Senior Account Manager of 2bkids, a company specialized in childrenparents".The expert comments that it is normally children who repeatedly ask their parents to let them have a channel.Parents produce that content and are responsible for learning to record, edit videos, manage.... “YouTube no permite tener cuenta a los menores de 13 años, por lo que son siempre los padres los dueños y gestores del canal”, asegura.They are also who then receive economic benefits.

Knowing how much youtubers earn is difficult because not everyone gets the same income.Kaji, for example, has trade agreements as a line of your own clothing, and could soon sign a contract for a television series to which I would give its image.The rattas, meanwhile, have published a book with the destination publishing house and have inspired dolls with their faces.All this makes box.But, the cases of Ryan and the sisters are exceptional because, in general, very few youtubers earn so much money.Santamaría clarifies that "it will depend on the reproductions that the video, the ads, of how much the advertiser has paid ... what is clear is that, to more visualizations in the videos, more income".

There are several ways to get money on YouTube."The best known is monetization," says 2bkids expert.“This means that spots (ads) may appear at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the video or banners with advertising. YouTube comparte los ingresos que recibe por parte de los anunciantes con los creadores de contenido, los dueños de los canales”, que, recordemos, son los padres del youtuber infantil.

However, the platform modified its conditions of use of the network since January 2020, and limited the data collected in the content created for children, to stop putting personalized ads in children's channels. “Estos vídeos no acumularán datos de navegación, y, por lo tanto, en lugar de desplegarse anuncios adaptados al histórico de navegación solo se insertarán anuncios segmentados por edad: juguetes, apps educativas, historias, poemas, libros, etcétera”, explica en su web Rubén Bastón, director de Marketing4ecommerce.“YouTube also eliminates the comments for these channels, the notification bell, the stories, community eyelashes, highlighted by subscribers...", Add.But advertising (and monetization) will continue.Predicted cane that these channels will lose visibility and monetize less and less, but they will continue to report income.

When are we facing undercover advertising?

Another income route is through agreements with trademarks.For companies, having a presence on YouTube is fundamental, because it is the largest dissemination chain for all age groups, according to a communication cany study.In fact, since the beginning of the pandemic he experienced a growth of 40%, and, in the case of minors, who have doubled their exposure time to the screens, it is the favorite network in the children's strip from 5 to 15years, unseatting television, according to a United Kingdom report,

Las marcas mandan juguetes de regalo a los youtubers infantiles a cambio de que los enseñen con naturalidad en sus canales; los fans se sienten seducidos por la emoción de que alguien a quien consideran cercano por edad, lenguaje y aspecto, describa un nuevo juguete con el que ellos mismos podrían estar jugando.Games and toys brands ensure, in this way, a safe arrival to their goal.

So, could we talk about covert or misleading advertising?Paula Ortiz, Legal Director and Institutional Relations of IAB Spain, clarifies: “If in the video there are instructions by a brand with an advertising purpose, advertising could be considered.If, in addition, the entertainment contents of the ads are not clearly differentiated, being able to error to the minors and make them believe that an advertising content is a fiction content, undercover advertising could be considered.It would also be misleading advertising if not reported on the advertising purpose.This aspect is especially important in those contents in which the brand behind aboxing does not appear clearly, but it has an obvious advertising objective ”.

Por eso, en el caso de que una marca patrocine un vídeo deberá incluir un aviso en el que se especifique que se trata de un vídeo con contenido promocional.We must take into account, yes, that not all Unboxing videos are sponsored but, sometimes, it is the creators who want to teach that toy, which they themselves have bought in a store.“That is why the creation of these videos cannot be prohibited because we would be violating freedom of opinion.What can be done is to legislate so that, in the cases that are advertising, it is specified and the user knows, ”says Santamaría.

"It's not your friend, they are commercial channels"

YouTube's decision to impose new restrictions have to do with COPPA law (law on the online privacy of children, for its acronym in English), a regulation that exists since 1998 but that has been activated only since 2020,From a fine of 170 million dollars that Google had to pay to US justice for collecting personal information from advertising purposes.But the Coppa law is American and does not apply in Spain.

"Here is the General Data Protection Regulation that establishes the prohibition of collecting data from a child under 13 without the consent of the father or guardian," says lawyer Paula Ortiz, who recalls that these regulations, together with laws such as theGeneral of advertising, of unfair competition, services of the Information Society, as well as the advertising self -regulation codes registered in self -control and audiovisual regulations, which is currently being reviewed, those established by advertising guidelines addressed to minors. “La Ley General de Publicidad, por ejemplo, es muy clara al respecto, estableciendo que no se debe explotar la inexperiencia o credulidad de los pequeños ni que se podrá, sin un motivo justificado, presentar a los niños en situaciones peligrosas.Another example is that the location of products in children's programs is prohibited.In addition, self -regulation codes collect specific issues related to certain sectors such as child feeding or toys advertising, ”says the expert.

Ortiz says that “the platforms have been implementing measures for the protection of minors in these environments.In addition, the future audiovisual regulations, which will also apply to videos exchange platforms, establishes measures to protect minors from certain audiovisual content ”.But it is essential that parents accompany their children in this social phenomenon.Guillermo Cánovas ensures that the main control tool is the tutoring, supervision and education of our children.“When parents are, they can develop the critical sense of their children, a type of behavior that allows them to value behind other behaviors;See with them some of these videos and tell them that, in reality, they are telling them one thing, but in reality what they want is to get another;that those YouTube channels have a commercial objective.It is not your idol or your friend who is telling you what he likes but is selling products.They are commercial channels ".