The Dark Side of NeoPets
When NeoPets was created in 1999 by two British university students, it was a harmless diversion meant to amuse them and their university friends. Its only purpose was, as the "about us" NeoPets webpage currently states, to "keep on adding features, improving our Web site, and making NeoPets more fun for you!"
Yeah, right. That was several years ago. And now the dark, evil reality sets in.
You see, NeoPets was purchased in the fall of 2001 by Dohring Market Research, a demographics and marketing research company (as the name suggests). DMR turned over a large portion of its staff, who had formerly been designing clever ways to sell cars, to work on ways to sell things through their newly acquired website (NeoPets). Enter "immersive advertising."
Immersive advertising is advertising woven into the fabric of something, so that it is not noticeable. Think of clever product placement. The beer label that just happens to be placed facing the camera. That sort of thing. Subtle (in most cases), but effective. So effective that most users of NeoPets (mostly the 12 to 17 year old crowd, 57% female - if other websites could get that demographic, they would die happy) do not notice the advertising. The Hollywood Records store. The Snow Dogs game (think the Cuba Gooding, Jr. movie). NeoPets sponsers include Mattel, Heinz, Nabisco, Mars, Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble (Crest toothpaste). Users talk about, and see, the advertising, but don't consciously recognize that it is there. Refresher: What is it called when you see something, and talk about it, but don't consciously know it is there, affecting your choices and thought-processes? Ah yes, "subliminal." Right.
Kalle Lasn, editor-in-chief of Adbusters magazine, is worried by the fact that many of the users cannot tell the difference between the advertising and non-advertising content. Ralph Nader has the same concerns. And it doesn't get any better. Just recently, a line of plush dolls depicting the NeoPets characters (which look like a cross between Pokemon and Beanie Babies) started selling in Limited Too stores. There is a fledgling clothing line. There are plans to branch out into a movie and a television series.
And because NeoPets is a
heavy time-investment site (the average user spends more than 4 & 1/2 hours a month - which includes click-and-go
websurfers. Many users go there every day for over a half hour), the users are seeing this advertising a lot. And the trend is increasing. Because the game designers are making it more difficult to earn NeoPoints (their
money), the user is required to spend more time playing the games and contests. And the system that governs a NeoPet's
happiness is derived from having
new stuff and
playing with it. Once an item gets old, it is no longer effective in keeping a NeoPet happy. More time spent.
And therein lies my greatest concern. What is the lifestyle this game promotes? What is the point of NeoPets? To interact one's character with other characters? Yes, but it is vastly more than that. It is all about buying stuff. Toothbrushes. Combs. Shirts. Bottles of sand. A Super-Blasting Wand of Potence. Mars bars. Skittles. Toast. Everything can be bought. It is about making a buck to buy something with it. Neopets is a game with a definite agenda behind it, an agenda that implicitly supports an increasingly capitalist world, where everyone is a materialist.
And in this lies its most potent danger to children. They are, I have been told, very open to influence at the age of 12-17. Should NeoPets be allowed to influence more children into thinking that life is all about getting stuff, and getting newer, better, more expensive stuff? I think not.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my NeoPet, ariRahel. She wants to play.
Sources:
C-Net News
The New York Times
The Contra Costa Times
www.freep.com
www.neopets.com
This write-up has been noded in full awareness of the term "irony."