YouTube can be kid-friendly... lots of videos available for them to watch and can help pass time as you cook dinner, etc! But the whole advertising thing is where it gets tricky, sticky, and icky. Although it's not my favorite, I don't mind advertisements before, during, or after videos. What I do mind is when they aren't appropriate.
Take for example, today. I sometimes put on a short Veggie Tales YouTube video or Thomas the Tank Engine video for Brayden while he eats breakfast as I nurse Jase to sleep for his nap. It's one way to ensure a lack of chaos downstairs while I am upstairs. This time, the video had an ad interruption... thankfully I was downstairs at that time to hear what it was because it was 50 Shades of Grey. I covered the computer from Brayden's eyes and tried not to watch it myself for 30 seconds as it ran because it wasn't one of the ads you could skip.
It was a reminder for me that I need to continue being cautious and careful every time Brayden is on a computer, but it was also a call to action. I've seen other non-friendly kid ads on YouTube during kid videos, mainly for TV dramas and I've meant to comment to YouTube on it... but this was the last straw. It's absolutely unacceptable that a clearly adult-rated advertisement was played in the middle of a kid-friendly video--not at the beginning or end, but the middle.
YouTube, please stand up for our children and find a way to ensure that kid-friendly ads are placed in and around kid-friendly videos.
If you agree with me and my request, please sign the petition below. I know this world is a dark place and everywhere you look there is nasty crud that I don't want my kid seeing... but that doesn't mean I should stay quiet. I can speak up and let them know when I see something wrong.
Here's the petition.
https://www.change.org/p/youtube-please-ensure-kid-friendly-youtube-videos-have-kid-friendly-ads
Thank you.
