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by Robert Cribb & Tyler Hamilton
The Toronto Star
Apr 22, 2005
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Her mom had one. Her brother had one. And
many of her friends had one.
By age 11, Casey Wartman decided it was essential that she have a cellphone.
"You kind of feel left out without one," says the cheerleader,
now 14, recalling the pressure to fit in with her peers. "Nobody
says it but you feel it."
Wartman represents the next frontier for cellphone companies looking
to reach beyond the increasingly saturated adult market and into uncharted
demographic territory — tech-savvy, chatty pre-teens.
That short-term sales strategy is prompting long-term health questions
from a growing number of scientists. They worry about the possible physiological
impact of cellphone use on young people — concerns quickly dismissed
by the wireless industry.
"Wireless is the hottest category there is in the youth market,"
says Kaan Yigit, president of Toronto-based market research firm Solutions
Research Group. "Everybody is trying to figure out an angle to
capture the opportunity."
Eight of Wartman's junior high classmates, sitting in a small classroom
at Thomas Street Middle School in Mississauga, nod their heads as she
describes the "cool" allure of cellphones — the games,
the ring tones, the colourful accessories and the independence that
comes with free talk time on evenings and weekends.
Rahul Basu, 12, has been using a cellphone since he was 10. Harliv Singh,
14, estimates about three-quarters of her friends have their own phones,
which they use to talk to each other after class and in the evenings.
When Mihyar Al-Ghafari, also 14, forgets his phone at home for the day,
he says he feels "lost" or like there's "something missing."
All agree their phones are among their most cherished possessions. Ask
how long they talk and most say, without hesitation, a half hour to
two hours each evening when family billing plans offer free calling.
The tug on the parental pant leg is getting stronger. Kids' phones are
no longer just plastic toys that toddlers drool and chew on. Young children
and pre-teens are now being served up the real thing with the help of
popular characters such as Barbie, Hello Kitty, and Elmo:
- This week, Walt Disney Co. announced it is entering the cellphone
business with handsets and content for children and their parents.
The move comes six years after Disney and AT&T first tested the
youth cellphone waters with ads for Goofy and Mickey Mouse branded
phones. They pulled back a year later amid growing media scrutiny.
- Toy giant Mattel Inc. is launching a colourful "My Scene"
Barbie phone next month designed for girls 12 and under who want to
act like big sister. The phone, which will sell for $79.95 (U.S.),
gives "tween girls a great looking, fully functional Nokia phone,"
according to the company. A Mattel spokesperson said the company plans
to bring the phone to Canada following its U.S. release.
- Earlier this year, phone manufacturer Nokia Corp. and U.S. operator
Cingular Wireless introduced a pink Hello Kitty pre-paid cellphone
geared to tween girls, complete with Hello Kitty games, ring tones
and wallpaper. It also sells for $99 (U.S.).
- Telus already sells a pink, diamond-encrusted "Baby Phat"
phone made by Motorola, aimed at the young hip-hop crowd. The $600
(Canadian) phone is at the top of the wish list for many tween girls.
- Firefly Mobile Inc. has built a unique, five-button, pre-programmed
phone for 8- to 12-year-olds. The Firefly, which comes in different
colours and an optional glow-in-the-dark skin, went on sale for $99
(U.S.) this summer across the United States. A Firefly spokesperson
says Canadian telecom giant Rogers Wireless plans to carry the phone
in mid-August.
"They were hoping to aim it at the 8-to-12 age group, but it's
only being used by 6- to 9-year-olds," says Carrie MacGillvray,
a telecommunications analyst with Yankee Group in Canada.
Bell Mobility is not currently marketing a phone specifically to children
although it does offer phone services such as video, screensavers and
games aimed at pre-teens.
The cellphone as high-tech pacifier is catching on big south of the
border, where toddlers and young children can watch Ernie, Elmo and
other Sesame Street characters in short mobile video clips.
International Data Corp., a Massachusetts-based technology research
firm, wrote in a recent report titled "Bert and Ernie Go Wireless"
that cellphones are morphing into "electronic babysitters"
in a bid to appeal to both parents and their children. Walt Disney Co.
and the creators of Teletubbies are among other producers of children's
shows and characters who are designing their content for cellphone screens,
and last month Looney Tunes announced that Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck
clips will be offered on a new mobile video channel geared toward children.
In Canada, Rogers Wireless will soon offer a $20 (Canadian) monthly
fee service called MobiTV, which will include a cartoon channel called
ToonWorld.
The marketing gloves are off.
Solutions Research predicts that 10 per cent of Canadians aged 8 to
11 will have their own phones by the end of this year, a number that's
forecast to rise to 40 per cent by 2008. It also predicts that 63 per
cent of 12- to 14-year-olds will own a mobile phone by 2008, up from
37 per cent today.
Even Hollywood has recognized the industry's pent-up desire to tap this
lucrative market. In the recent movie In Good Company, a 20-something
marketing executive pitches the idea of cellphones designed to look
like dinosaurs, complete with T-Rex and pterodactyl ring tones. He enthusiastically
explains to his colleagues that only "0.02 per cent of cellphone
users are under 5." He then picks up one of the phones, pretending
to be a small child, and with a voice parents know all too well says,
"Mommy, I want one; buy me one for Christmas."
It was a humorous scene in the movie. But not everybody's laughing.
Several scientists and health officials interviewed by the Toronto Star
are worried about putting cellphones in the hands of young children.
They fear that decades from now, clusters of adults may emerge showing
early-onset Alzheimer's, cancers of the eye and brain, impotency or
intense migraines that can be traced back to long-term exposure to cellphone
frequencies.
Dr. George Carlo, a controversial figure who headed up industry-funded
research into cellphone safety during the 1990s, says that while he
wouldn't suggest banning children from using cellphones, he believes
there may be dire consequences to letting an 8-year-old use one for
hours a week.
"Kids (and) young teenagers are followers, not leaders, and they
don't have the ability to make their own decisions," says Carlo.
"Parents are really the only people in a young person's lives with
the ability to make a risk valuation.... We have no idea at all what
the cumulative effect of 20 years of use will be on a young person,
let alone a full lifetime of use."
But facing little resistance from governments in North America, industry
players are forging ahead with marketing campaigns that, for the first
time, aim at putting cellphones into the hands of children.
"It's clearly an important market and a lot of the services out
there are attractive to the youth market," says Peter Barnes, president
and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, which
represents the country's major service providers. "There's a big
role and a continuing role as in all consumer purchases that are attractive
to kids, whether it's CDs or jeans or cellphones, where the parent has
a role in making that decision."
Peggy Cunningham, an associate professor of marketing at Queen's University
who teaches a course on marketing ethics, says passing the buck to parents
is "a big cop-out" and a denial of corporate responsibility.
She says five years ago phone companies were denying they were marketing
to children. What's changed, she asks, to make the marketing of a Barbie
phone okay?
"We have to think about what we're responsible for as a profession,"
says Cunningham, who wonders whether the industry is responding to a
need in the market or creating one, though she realizes — as many
parents do — there are good reasons for giving a child a cellphone.
"This case is complex, because there are benefits for children
keeping in touch with family ... it gives you that safety net, psychologically
for the parents and physically for the children."
There's no denying the safety benefits of cellphones. Two months ago,
five Georgetown boys between the ages of 10 and 13 found themselves
trapped in heavy mud at a construction site. With hypothermia setting
in, one used his cellphone to call a parent. Emergency services were
quickly dispatched and the boys were saved.
Firefly says its phone "keeps kids connected to the people who
matter most," a simple statement that promotes the product less
as a social device and more as a safety tool. The Barbie phone is being
marketed as a way for parents to exert more control over their kids.
"Parents and kids work together to define and track ways to `earn'
more minutes through household chores, homework, certain behaviours
and more," says promotional material for the new Mattel product,
touting a website where parents can buy more airtime when their children
have met certain household obligations.
Deborah MacDonald, principal at Thomas Street school, estimates an average
of eight children in classes of 25 have a cellphone. Considering how
busy parents are these days, she says she has no problem as long as
the devices aren't used in class.
"Sometimes the parents are caught on the 401 and have no other
way of getting in touch with their kids," she says.
The wireless-service companies in Canada vigorously defend their products
as safe.
Mark Langton, a spokesperson for Telus Mobility, has a 12-year-old daughter
with a cellphone.
"It makes us both feel a lot more secure, for sure, that she has
one," he says. "Sure, I balance the vague concerns I've heard
about potential health issues over the years against her day-to-day
security. But I'll always be more concerned about the latter."
Rogers Wireless spokesperson Heather Armstrong said children between
the ages of 11 and 18 are an important market for the company. "We
feel that it's important to speak directly to these important customers
and to treat them with respect."
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