Children exposed to ‘aggressive marketing’
Trading standards officers in Derbyshire are warning children who use their parents’ bank details to play online games could be running up huge bills.
The authority is advising parents to follow new Office of Fair Trading (OFT) guidance to make sure their children are not pressurised into making unauthorised purchases while playing computer games online.
The OFT suggests that parents check the ‘payment options’ settings on their child’s devices, check whether there are any ‘in-game’ purchases, whether the game contains a social element which could incur a cost, to play the game themselves to understand what children will see and carry out these checks regularly as game content can change via automatic updates.
Health and Communities Councillor Dave Allen said:“Problems can arise when children are exposed to potentially unfair or aggressive marketing practices.”