Lightning Talk
Cheryl Williams
Graduate Student
York University
Biography
Cheryl Williams is a graduate student in the York/Ryerson Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture. Her research focuses on child-targeted advertising, new media, and consumer culture.
Abstract
This presentation focuses on mobile phone “advergames” freely available to children via iTunes or company websites. For example, Wrigley’s “Candy Sports” allows players to select from Skittles Baseball, Starburst Football and Lifesavers Gummies Basketball to earn trophies and brag to their friends on Facebook. Similarly Kellogg’s offers “Apple Jack’s Race to the Bowl Rally,” a car racing game where contestants earn extra points by collecting Apple Jack’s cereal along the race track. Coca- Cola produces a “Santa’s Helper” game, where kids help Santa deliver soft drinks to the children of the world, and a branded “Fanta Players” app where users collect Fanta cans to unlock mini games and post to Facebook.
While these games may be entertaining for children, they also convey underlying cultural meaning. Games teach children about the world they live in including what is normal, what is right, what is fair, and what is healthy. This presentation exposes the underlying cultural myths mobile phone games are instilling in our children, suggests further areas for study, and advocates for a new advergame awareness component within children’s media literacy programs.