p2pnet - rss feed: Neopets reloaded
p2pnet.net News:- One of p2pnet’s biggest, and growing, concerns is the way in which the entertainment industry is getting away with poisoning the minds of children at school through phony education programs and other dishonest and self-serving ‘We Care’ promos.
On September 16 we ran Danger! school is back in which we said kids are also being exposed to hard-core online embedded (immersive) advertising at school.
This has nothing to do with education: its only purpose is to get kids to buy ‘product’.
We grabbed a couple of pars from a Reuters story, one of which said, “Little is formally being done to shield kids in school or at home from ‘immersive advertising’ or corporate-sponsored ‘advergames’ such as the Neopets Web site, which contains loads of embedded advertising messages and links to merchandise,” going on:
“This is flying under the radar screen of most parents and teachers,” said Jeff Chester, executive director at the Center for Digital Democracy. And another quote stated:
“Advertisers spend about $15 billion a year targeting kids through sites like Neopets, ‘which has ads embedded into games and links to Web sites operated by McDonald’s, General Mills Inc.and Procter & Gamble Co’.”
Other Neopets ‘consumer’ clients include Carl’s Jr, Hasbro, Hershey, Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods / Nabisco, LEGO, Mattel, Nestlé, Pepperidge Farm, Thinkway Toys and Wrigley.
Entertainment industry clients include: 20th Century Fox, Atari, Corus Entertainment, Discovery Kids Channel, Disney, DreamWorks SKG, MGM, New Line Cinema, Nintendo, Paramount Pictures, PBS Kids, RCA Records, Sega, SONY, Turner Broadcasting, Universal Studios, Vivendi Universal and Warner Bros.
These multi-million (and in some cases multi-billion)-dollar companies are spending money on Neopets not because they’re trying to improve the quality of life for the people who are hooked - dare we say addicted - but because they can make lots of money out of its users.
And they’re invading schools to do it.
Here’s the business rationale:
Neopets generates revenue from several sources. The first and most intriguing way is through the use of Immersive Advertising - a technique invented by Neopets. Similar to the concept of product placement, Immersive Advertising directly integrates a sponsor’s product or service into the activities available within the site. This generates millions of impressions, which powerfully convey the sponsor’s message effectively to its intended audience.
Other means utilized by Neopets to generate revenue are more traditional. For example, Neopets sells merchandise directly to retail stores such as Limited Too and other independent specialty retailers. Items such as Neopets plush toys, notepads, and stickers are offered. Neopets has also entered into select licensing opportunities with leading companies including Sony Computer Entertainment, Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast, Milton Bradley/Parker Bros., and Thinkway Toys. These companies have and will be creating Neopets branded products to be sold through toy stores, comic/card shops and other national retailers throughout the United States and other parts of the world. Neopets is developing Neopets wireless content for access on cellular phones in Asia, Europe and the United States. All of these activities contribute to the revenue needed to expand Neopets, Inc. into a global entertainment and media company.
Online market research has played an important role in site content development, product development, concept testing and public relations from the Company’s inception. In addition, market research has also become a source of revenue. Neopets’ unparalleled access to young people, coupled with the Company’s highly sophisticated, proprietary market research system, enables Neopets to conduct detailed consumer studies for companies that target young people, including the hard to reach 12 and younger age group. Neopets has the largest COPPA compliant (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) online market research panel in the world, containing more than 50,000 12 and younger panelists complete with written parental permission. Neopets research is used by numerous Fortune 1000 companies, and is frequently quoted in respected publications such as Advertising Age and Television Week.
So back to our story Back to School story, Whoa!
We had some interesting (in the Confucian sense ; ) email reponses, all basically saying Neopets is/are great and wtf were we slagging them for?
And there were several Readers’ Writes, a couple of which are below.
I don’t agree with the implication that a child has no brain power to defy an add the size of a thumb on a neopets site. I myself play neopets, and know far too many people that do too. Advertising has become quite nasty in the past 10 years, and the internet seems to be one of it’s targetted dimensions, but sites like neopets do not include pop ups or any super-over-powering and influential influentlail adds that would drive a 7 year old to threaten his/her parents if they don’t buy him/her that product.
Although I agree that children should be supervized once they enter the net, I disagree with tagetting neopets.com, it’s a rather weak example while pinning it against other advertising monsters.
Also, in the consumer culture we’re living in, is up to the parents to train their children into reacting to measures of purchasing, like a birthday or christmas, as adds will always be present no matter how many precautions they take. Remember, a child is your responsibility and corporations just simply do not care about anything else than profits.
~A (sora65)
I am an avid neopets player and high school student. I see nothing wrong with sponsor games.
I never even play those games or buy the merchandise advertised. All I want to do is have fun and play neopets. Brainwashing is a tad too strong a word to use. Influential is better. This article comes across to me as an assumption that children are feeble enough to buy a product they see on neopets. Even the five year olds that play neopets that my sister interacts with at camp know better. They see that this is just some way to get them to buy a product.
Check your facts with actual neopets players and rewrite this article. I will be checking in.
Signed,
A Neopets Player
We also had hundreds of visits from a site called PPT which is, “in no way affiliated with www.neopets.com. PPT is an unofficial fan site. We do not claim to be the creators of Neopets or any of the characters from the game. PPT is provided as a resource for Neopets fans.”
Now that’s brand loyalty !
On September 20 ‘Yukio’ posted, “What are your views on immersive advertising?” and among the responses was:
“amandamomof3 | September Tue 21 2004
I am a parent, and I LOVE NEOPETS. I am addicted to Neopets as well as PPT. I have even given my 4 year old son a pet of hi own. I agree with the above statement that they should pick on Yahoo and Geocities and every other website out there for the lewd, disgusting ad’s with half naked women all over them. SO WHAT if my son sees the Batman game and wants a Batman action figure. Who cares if he sees the McDonalds restaurant ad wants to go. That’s the beauty of being a kid. To do fun stuff like that. There is also the beauty of being a mom and saying NO. I would rather him ask me for a hat wheels car then why the woman on the screen has her butt cheeks hanging out. I also want to say that Neopets is educational. He is learning to take care of a pet, though it is virtual, but he is still learning. This is helping teach him responsibility, and frankly, I will take whatever help I can get in regards to teaching him things. CHEERS PPT and Neopets …....
Stay tuned ; p
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See:-
embedded (immersive) advertising - Danger! school is back, p2pnet, September 16, 2004
business rationale - Neopets FAQ
clients include - Partial Client List
no way affiliated - PPT - Think Pink
September 24th, 2004 at 12:15 am
Of course it should be obvious to everyone that those “testimonial” posts are written by Neopets promoters themselves. I mean, when someone goes through a long list of talking points to praise a product and discredit all the criticisms - this is not likely to be an actual parent or child, but a PROFESSIONAL SALESMAN is what it reeks of. Add to that the fact that all the regular P2Pnet readers have long since moved on from this article when these ‘imposters’ start showing up.
Ok, so I’m stating the obvious. But just in case some readers failed to catch on. I discovered more than a few P2P users don’t know snake oil when they see it.
I just checked the PPT site but could not find any mention of p2pnet. I assume someone posted in the hidden administrators forum (no doubt their largest section). The PPT forum is laughable. It’s a completely fake forum. By that, I mean it is corporate people posing as customers and enthusiasts. I know what a real forum looks like, and this is a very poor counterfeit job indeed. And these idiots don’t even know enough to cover their tracks.
September 24th, 2004 at 4:58 am
http://pinkpt.com/ - 3rd from the bottom - click on “Add a comment:” to see the posts other than the one we quoted.
“What are your views on immersive advertising?
Posted by Yukio on September Mon 20 2004
An article entitled Danger! school is back talks about their views on immersive advertising that is prevalent on Neopets and highlights some concerns over them. What are your views? Do you agree? Share them using the comments function at the end of this news post.”
October 14th, 2004 at 1:21 am
I find it more obvious that you have never played neopets or discussed this with anyone that does play. If you actually did play, you would know that Ppt.com is a totally real website. It is used by MANY neopets users and the forums are very real. Just because younger people use the forums, does not make them counterfeit. I am a proud player of neopets and am 16. Before people judge neopets, they should actually try playing. The Neopets Team (TNT) does try to make money off the site, but not at the expense of creating false information as you accuse them of. You honestly have no idea what you are talking about and should not be questioning sites and people you have no clue about. If you want to contact me, you can sign up for neopets and neomail (email in neopets) at kosmo_kramer. Thanks
August 26th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Newpets is a rip off and its all about money. Since it was sold they now charge for things like animal clothing, premium services, and now they are instituting buying furniture for houses. Just try their tech support and getting mistakes they do corrected, it is impossible. But if you call about opening an account you get quick service. They only have live operators to take your money, but you must write in to get any other account help, which in some cases has taken months. So your article about this is spot on in my opinion which has plenty of company with other disgruntled former participants. If they make a mistake and lose everything you accumulated for a year which cost you $7.99 a month they don’t even care or make an effort to return it. I consider myself lucky in some ways to be saving the money now and out of that place. I just feel violated by them.