Changes appears to be on the horizon for marketers using digital media and advertising strategies to target children, as illustrated by a recent string of unrelated events: the outcry over children running up tabs on Smurf Village app; the Federal Trade Commission's recent guidance on advertising to children, including online advertising, and most recently, a new emphasis by Apple on keeping iAds out of apps for children.

Apple's iAd for Kids Policy

Earlier this week, this issue came under scrutiny when Mike Zornek, developer of the Dex app for iPhone and iPod touch, blogged that the iAd fill rates for Dex, a Pokemon-game-themed app, suddenly plunged to zero. He reached out to Apple and was told advertisers did not want ads displayed in apps targeting young children unlikely to buy their products.

Apple set the record straight in a comment to the Wall Street Journal, telling it this had been policy all along. Ads that have appeared in the Dex app, according to Zornek, included those for Dove Soap and Klondike Bars, Geico Insurance and a poker game.

Smurf Village

It may be that Apple has been a little more sensitive about the issue of children's advertising ever since the Smurf Village app controversy, Rob Walch, host of Today in iOS, told MacNewsWorld. Briefly, a glitch in the app allowed children to access it and embark on spending sprees in which they purchased hundreds and even thousands of dollars worth of virtual goods.

"There is little to be gained for Apple dishing out ads to kids, especially if they are not making money in the first place," according to Walch.

Voluntary Guidelines

The Federal Trade Commission, for its part, has proposed new guidelines for advertisers of food products for children - an overhaul that includes digital advertising.While these  guidelines are voluntary, there will no doubt be pressure from both consumers and the government to conform.