Interactive Food and Beverage Marketing: Targeting Children and Youth in the Digital Age

Looks at the practices of food and beverage industry marketers in reaching youth via digital videos, cell phones, interactive games and social networking sites. Recommends imposing governmental regulations on marketing to children and adolescents

Interactive food and beverage marketing: targeting children and youth in the digital age

The proliferation of media in children\u27s lives has created a new \u27marketing ecosystem\u27 that encompasses cell phones, mobile music devices, instant messaging, videogames, and virtual, three-dimensional worlds. These new marketing practices are fundamentally transforming how food and beverage companies do business with young people in the twenty-first century. Today, U.S. children are confronting myriad diseases associated with excessive weight gain and poor nutrition. Type 2 diabetes, a serious medical condition previously found only in adults, has become common in children and adolescents. Government agencies and public health professionals have become increasingly concerned over the role of advertising in promoting \u27high-calorie, low-nutrient\u27 products to young people. Most of the policy debate has focused on TV commercials targeted at young children. However, marketing now extends far beyond the confines of television and even the Internet, into an expanding and ubiquitous digital media culture.&nbsp

ELECTRONIC JURISDICTION, METAVERSE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DIGITAL PERSONALITY, DIGITAL AVATAR, NEURAL NETWORKS: THEORY, PRACTICE, PERSPECTIVE

Scientific and technological revolution 4.0 (The Fourth Industrial Revolution) has created a huge window of opportunity for a variety of creative technologies. At the same time it launched the emergence and development of modern social relations in the electronic space - the metaverse. In fact, today all the prerequisites for the scientific and technological revolution 5.0 and social revolution 5.0, which radically changes the role of human in the social structure, while changing the social structure, creating new social groups, social institutions, electronic ecosystems and metaverse. Modern social relations in the electronic space are multi-vector and can be divided according to the variety of objects, subjects and characteristics of the relationship between them, namely: the subjective and object basis of identification of social relations. Thus, the subjective basis for the identification of social relations is the social communities of people, and the object one is information and communication technologies and its products. Legal science is a social science, as it performs gnoseological and heuristic functions that determine the direction of scientific research and scientific predictions, studying the relations between people, groups of people, people and state institutions. The results of research are practical improvement of legislation on a scientific basis, development of draft normative legal acts, scientific examinations, etc.However, the current practice indicates that modern laws are created very slowly, without necessary and sufficient detaliztion of terms and basic concepts.It is difficult to overestimate the correctness, accuracy and consistency with the current legislation of definitions of legal terms. Unfortunately, the current legislation is unable to regulate public relations, which are rapidly evolving in the electronic space using digital technologies, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), digital identity, digital avatars and other technologies, especially those that may restrict human rights and freedom. In fact, along with the creation of new social relations in the metaverse, it is necessary to create an electronic jurisdiction - the scope of application of opportunities by the subject of competence or the sphere to which the right applies.The author’s definitions "metaverse (cyberspace)", "electronic avatar", "electronic personality", "electronic jurisdiction", "cybercrime", "kidnapping of electronic avatar or electronic personality", "artificial intelligence" and "neural networks" are proposed in the article.Six postulates of the main directions of development of social relations with the use of technologies of the metaverse, artificial intelligence, artificial neural networks, robotic systems, medical and military lost products and devices are formed.Proposals for the creation of a comprehensive electronic jurisdiction, conceptual and categorical apparatus, definition of subjects and objects, rights, duties and responsibilities in the metaverse and in the use of artificial intelligence technologies, artificial neural networks, robots, etc. are provided.Scientific and technological revolution 4.0 (The Fourth Industrial Revolution) has created a huge window of opportunity for a variety of creative technologies. At the same time it launched the emergence and development of modern social relations in the electronic space - the metaverse. In fact, today all the prerequisites for the scientific and technological revolution 5.0 and social revolution 5.0, which radically changes the role of human in the social structure, while changing the social structure, creating new social groups, social institutions, electronic ecosystems and metaverse. Modern social relations in the electronic space are multi-vector and can be divided according to the variety of objects, subjects and characteristics of the relationship between them, namely: the subjective and object basis of identification of social relations. Thus, the subjective basis for the identification of social relations is the social communities of people, and the object one is information and communication technologies and its products. Legal science is a social science, as it performs gnoseological and heuristic functions that determine the direction of scientific research and scientific predictions, studying the relations between people, groups of people, people and state institutions. The results of research are practical improvement of legislation on a scientific basis, development of draft normative legal acts, scientific examinations, etc.However, the current practice indicates that modern laws are created very slowly, without necessary and sufficient detaliztion of terms and basic concepts.It is difficult to overestimate the correctness, accuracy and consistency with the current legislation of definitions of legal terms. Unfortunately, the current legislation is unable to regulate public relations, which are rapidly evolving in the electronic space using digital technologies, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), digital identity, digital avatars and other technologies, especially those that may restrict human rights and freedom. In fact, along with the creation of new social relations in the metaverse, it is necessary to create an electronic jurisdiction - the scope of application of opportunities by the subject of competence or the sphere to which the right applies.The author’s definitions "metaverse (cyberspace)", "electronic avatar", "electronic personality", "electronic jurisdiction", "cybercrime", "kidnapping of electronic avatar or electronic personality", "artificial intelligence" and "neural networks" are proposed in the article.Six postulates of the main directions of development of social relations with the use of technologies of the metaverse, artificial intelligence, artificial neural networks, robotic systems, medical and military lost products and devices are formed.Proposals for the creation of a comprehensive electronic jurisdiction, conceptual and categorical apparatus, definition of subjects and objects, rights, duties and responsibilities in the metaverse and in the use of artificial intelligence technologies, artificial neural networks, robots, etc. are provided

Perceived gender and its effect on attributions toward avatars in the video game Spore

In this study, 174 undergraduates from the University of Central Florida were asked to rate individual human and animal avatar features from the video game Spore on their level of femininity, masculinity, likability, and how well the feature represented them on a 7 point Likert scale of agreeability. Avatar features were presented on a neutral gray, quadruped body in two different views. It was expected that participants would show higher likability for avatar features that they perceived as corresponding to their Personal Attribute Questionnaire (PAQ) gender. Males liked feminine features approximately the same as females, however, in many categories females liked the most masculine features more than the most feminine features. Males liked the most masculine body detail feature more than females, and females liked the most masculine body detail more than males. It also was anticipated that avatar features rated as having both low femininity and low masculinity would be the features rated lowest in likability overall. These features did not have the lowest likability, but were somewhat close to neutral in likability. These results have implications for likable avatar creation for businesses, the military, and education

Fashion Merchandising: An Augmented Reality

There is a continuous and constant transformation in the field of Augmented Reality (AR), both in the Retail, and the Manufacturing sector. It has started to influence everything from fashion runway shows to online shopping. Consumers dynamics have shifted in the fashion industry, the ways becoming more dominant than the old observant ones- the simple buying experience no longer satisfies them. Due to the emergence of the new digital platforms and technological enhancements, the consumers are looking for more- be it a more exciting buying experience or more user interaction or more enhanced products. This technological change starts with the consumer where Augmented Reality is being used to make fashion more accessible to the people. The future of fashion merchandising is to exploit AR platforms further, to make the whole buying experience digital. There is a lot of potential for AR not only in fashion merchandising on online platforms but also in the showrooms. But it is to be remembered, that this technological shift will cause the industry to miss the ‘human element’ eventually

Social media business model analysis - Case Tencent, Facebook, and Myspace

The term of social media is becoming increasingly popular presently, the amount of social media users is growing dramatically, and the monetization of social media has been discussed in publications but not in details. Nowadays, the most frequently used approach to make money for social media is online advertising. However, the successful company like Tencent proves other potentials of monetization. Because the business model is critical to make profit for a company, a company’s financial performance could be better achieved when it has a good business model. This study will focus on business models analysis of social media companies. The study is conducted based on three case companies, Tencent, Facebook, and Myspace. The objectives are to build the business model framework for social media services analysis, apply this framework into case companies to examine their business models and find out the best performed one, and finally to improve other two less well-performed companies’ business models. Case study, observations, focus group are main methods for collecting data and empirical analysis. Based on literature reviews of social media and business models, this paper formulates a new business model framework, it provides a structure for empirical case analysis. The framework is modified mainly based on Osterwalder’s (2002) e-business model ontology, and other three attributes have also been added into. New framework components include customer relationship, infrastructure management, product innovation, market considerations, technologies, regulations, and financial aspects. Through empirical studies on business models, Tencent emphasizes to focus on users’ personalization and provides integrated solutions, it achieves high financial return mostly through virtual goods channel. Facebook offers young people a specific social networking platform, enable the communication and maintain people’s relationships in a way of content sharing, it collects revenues mainly from online ads. Myspace gives users high personalized experiences through social entertaining platform, and also generate revenues from online ads. Tencent has been found to be the most successful in its business model and financial performance among three companies. To achieve better performance for other two companies, Facebook is suggested to improve its value proposition and provide more social media services based on young people’s needs, to include new mechanisms that can maintain customer relationship, to have new revenue channels like increase virtual item sales and bind with telecommunication services. For Myspace, it is critical to enhance main music solution service in order to keep its competitive advantage. Real name registration policy should be applied to enhance users’ strength of ties and environment safety. Customer relationship is the most important issue due to significant amount of lost users. The study recommends it to develop more features that keep users active on the site, to give them caring service, and to listen to their voices. Finally, Myspace can also try to add new revenue streams besides traditional ads approach

Avatar Taxonomy: A New Technological Tool to Enhance the Consumer-Brand Relationships

PurposeAvatars, which are used as a technology and marketing tactic, can embody consumer-facing employees and mimic their real-life roles on companies' websites, thereby playing a key role in enhancing the relationships between consumers and brands in the online environment. Academics and practitioners have increasingly acknowledged the significance of the consumer-brand relationship in both traditional and online contexts. However, the impersonal nature of the online environment is considered to be a hindrance to the development of these relationships. Despite the importance of this technology, little attention has been paid to the investigation of the avatar concept from a marketing perspective. This paper explores the nature of the avatar concept, including its main characteristics, dimensions, and conditions as well as the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of avatar users.Design/methodology/approachAdopting the qualitative design, a taxonomy was developed from interviews. In total, 42 interviews were conducted with current university students. 30 participants participated in the exploratory interviews. A total of 12 interviews were conducted during the in-depth stage based on findings in the preceding research.FindingsBased on the qualitative data analysis, a taxonomy was developed. The idea of the taxonomy is summarized in that different dimensions of the avatar are considered the main base (first phase) of the taxonomy. There are consequential three parts: the attitudinal consequences related to the website; the attitudinal consequences related to the brand; the behaviours towards the brand. These behaviours represent the final phase of the taxonomy.Originality/valueBy developing a taxonomy of using avatars on brands' websites, the authors advance the understanding consumer-brands relationships. Using avatars' verbal interactions helps in shaping consumers' cognitive, affective, attitudinal and behavioural responses and add vital empirical evidence to the increasing body of research and practices involving avatar usage in the interactive marketing area