How Misleading Advertising May Harm Teen Safety And How You Can Stop It

Misleading advertising can cause harm to anyone. But it can be even more harmful to teenagers, as they are still in the process of developing. 

What is misleading advertising? 

Basically, false or misleading advertising refers to advertisers using misleading, deceptive, or false statements about products or services. 

There are numerous federal and state laws that protect consumers against misleading advertising, which means businesses cannot legally make false, deceptive, or misleading claims about products or services, such as the price, purpose, and quality of a product or service. But many still do. 

Laws make it clear that all consumers are entitled to know precisely what they’re buying and how much it will cost. 

If a consumer gets an incorrect understanding of the product due to misleading advertising, he or she should contact an experienced lawyer to learn about consumer rights and find out what action can be taken to gain compensation.

How Misleading Advertising May Harm Teen Safety 

While anyone of any age can be a victim of misleading advertising, teens can be more susceptible. 

They are still developing and don’t necessarily understand how to be wary of false and deceptive claims. 

Furthermore, teens typically have more money to spend than other demographics and they can exert a strong influence on their parents to buy products or services. That means teenagers are one of the most important demographics for marketers. 

Teens are especially targeted by misleading ads online through things like social media marketing campaigns and ads in games and apps. 

Misleading advertising cannot only lead to teenagers making uninformed decisions and wasting valuable money on products or services that do not live up to the promise. It can also cause harm to teen safety. 

For instance, brands can make their ads appealing to teens in order to exploit and take advantage of vulnerabilities, such as their desire to fit in and be attractive. 

Both teen girls and boys are particularly susceptible to messages about body image, so marketing campaigns use that to their advantage. But things like body image and not fitting in can lead to serious issues, such as mental health problems. 

When teens don’t see the results that they expected from purchasing a certain product or service, such as buying diet pills that don’t make teenagers lose weight as claimed in the ad, they can experience depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. In worst-case scenarios, teenagers could even take their own lives. 

Another way misleading ads can harm a teen is if they purchase a product they think is safe, and that product ends up injuring them. According to the lawyers at Jacoby & Meyers in New York, "manufacturers of consumer products face strict legal liability if their products contain defects that make them unreasonably dangerous for use as intended and a consumer suffers an injury as a result, which lawyers refer to as product liability. Defects can include an unreasonably dangerous product design, manufacturing flaws in a product, or the lack of an adequate warning on a product about its dangers

There are few restrictions about collecting online data on teenagers, so marketers make the most out of that scenario. 

They collect information that allows them to understand what certain teenagers’ tastes, interests, and purchase histories are so that they can target the right ads at them. Data tracking also enables companies to find out the location of teens. 

When teenagers don’t understand what information they’re giving away, they can make themselves more vulnerable to misleading advertising. 

They can make it easier for cybercriminals to get hold of their information too, which could lead to identity theft and cause immense harm.

How to Stop Teens Being Affected by Misleading Advertising 

As a parent, it’s up to you to find out more about how misleading advertising can harm your teenage sons or daughters and take the right steps to prevent the damage from happening. 

Communication is the key. Talk to your teenagers about the dangers of misleading ads and show them examples of how misleading marketing is applied so that they don’t become victims of it. 

Common types of misleading advertising include:

·         Bait-and-switch, which involves a company advertising a product or service that it never intends to provide.

·         Misleading photos, which makes products look better than they actually are.

·         Price deception, which involves advertising false or misleading prices for a product or service.