Rights advocate warns against unboxing videos submitted by children

If you don’t know what it isunboxingg, you are a lucky parent. L’unpackingor unboxing, consists of filming children unwrapping gifts “generously” offered by brands of toys or electronic equipment and posting the videos online.

These little consumerist jewels are not satisfied with sticking it into our children’s heads that the goal in life is to possess useless objects that sparkle, they also threaten the physical and moral integrity of the children who provide the show. A report published on November 17 by the defender of rights warns of the numerous excesses and risks faced by minors who perform on the net.

Unboxing, too cute a practice… for the adult bank account

Fluorescent plastic, groovy music, enthusiastic screams, videos ofunpacking they have everything to please the young audience, fans of these commercials of the future who hide their primary intention (to sell you things) behind a friendly pseudo-spontaneity.

Because that’s what this is all about: commercials provided by kids. With the difference that they are not supervised, and that they mainly benefit parents who thus increase their visibility on the net, and their pocket money.

Alarmed by this type of phenomenon, the Observatory of parenting and digital education has kidnapped the defender of rights, Claire Hédon, so that she could report on the situation. Her report published on November 17 denounces these practices, which are similar to the exploitation of minors: currently, videos with children on the networks are produced and remunerated outside the very strict framework provided by law.

Small influencers subject to the same risks as big ones

These videos compromise the privacy of these mini ambassadors despite them. Their image and intimacy are provided without their real consent, often because they are too young to realize what is at stake and the consequences. Children, like adults, are not spared from cyberbullying and hateful comments.
What is posted online never goes away. These children are then doomed to exist virtually on the terms set by their parents. They will no longer have the ability to decide when the time comes how they want to appear or not online.

The defender of rights proposes two measures to protect and inform families about the dangers of digital exposure: the creation of a compulsory module from sixth grade on digital education and more specifically on the digital rights of minors, as well as training for parents ” influencers”. Finally, it is also up to us, the other daron, to refuse this type of content to our children (despite their insistence) and explain to them why.

Photo credit image of one: Getty Images