Ads featuring guns pop up on apps meant for kids
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SEATTLE -- An app that lets kids decorate cookies and cupcakes also features advertisements for violent games across the screen, leaving some parents to wonder if the content is age appropriate.
Michelle Mills, who is the wife of a Fisher employee, wants other parents to know that just because you control what your kids download doesn't mean you control what they see.
Michelle's 5-year-old daughter uses the free Cookie Maker app, which is supported by advertisements and always has a banner across the screen.
She has a folder of games on her parents' iPad, but one of her favorites is Cookie Maker, where she can bake and decorate cookies.
The other night, she was playing Cookie Maker with her younger sister when her dad noticed something odd on the screen. It was a banner ad displaying a row of four flashing guns across the top.
"It's hard enough to control what children see and hear without having something that should be completely innocuous have a gun pop up on a screen," Michelle said.
She said when you click on the app, it takes you to a graphic military game called Modern War. That game is rated for people 12-years old and older.
Internet safety expert Linda Crindle said it's the responsibility of the game providers to make sure what's on the screen is appropriate.
"It's hard to see the right benefit. I can't see too many 4-year olds going, 'Oh, let's go over and shoot,'" Crindle said.
The guns aren't just showing up on the Cookie Maker app, either. Ads using guns were also found on another similar game made by Crazy Cats Media app, which was also free and supported with banner ads.
Criddle said parents concerned about the content should buy the app so there are no ads on the game. They should also complain to the app developer, she said.
"There's a spectrum of ethic standards with companies and you have to thread your way through there and look at it and protest loudly when you don't like what you see," she said.
Michelle said from now on she'll be paying closer attention to what comes across the screen when her kids are using the iPad.
KOMO News emailed the developers of both games but did not get a response.
Michelle Mills, who is the wife of a Fisher employee, wants other parents to know that just because you control what your kids download doesn't mean you control what they see.
Michelle's 5-year-old daughter uses the free Cookie Maker app, which is supported by advertisements and always has a banner across the screen.
She has a folder of games on her parents' iPad, but one of her favorites is Cookie Maker, where she can bake and decorate cookies.
The other night, she was playing Cookie Maker with her younger sister when her dad noticed something odd on the screen. It was a banner ad displaying a row of four flashing guns across the top.
"It's hard enough to control what children see and hear without having something that should be completely innocuous have a gun pop up on a screen," Michelle said.
She said when you click on the app, it takes you to a graphic military game called Modern War. That game is rated for people 12-years old and older.
Internet safety expert Linda Crindle said it's the responsibility of the game providers to make sure what's on the screen is appropriate.
"It's hard to see the right benefit. I can't see too many 4-year olds going, 'Oh, let's go over and shoot,'" Crindle said.
The guns aren't just showing up on the Cookie Maker app, either. Ads using guns were also found on another similar game made by Crazy Cats Media app, which was also free and supported with banner ads.
Criddle said parents concerned about the content should buy the app so there are no ads on the game. They should also complain to the app developer, she said.
"There's a spectrum of ethic standards with companies and you have to thread your way through there and look at it and protest loudly when you don't like what you see," she said.
Michelle said from now on she'll be paying closer attention to what comes across the screen when her kids are using the iPad.
KOMO News emailed the developers of both games but did not get a response.
This is simply a question of whether you think it's appropriate for 12-and-older content to appear in an all-ages game. I personally think it's not appropriate. Clearly, the executives at Crazy Cats Inc. feel otherwise.
3 months ago this wouldn't have even made it to any news story.
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Fear mongering much?
Three months ago there was a whole classroom of kids who were still alive. People need to pull there heads out of the sand and realize that everything influences a person's development. Start with the right stuff when they're young, and they'll turn out well balanced when they're older.
 @factchekr That is a bold faced lie. I have personally seen someone who had the most caring parents who tried everything to do right for their son, and he turned out to be a disaster.
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On the other hand I've seen, first hand someone who grew up with being taught no morals or anything of value turn out to be one of the best and most well balanced people I know.
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It's the hands on parenting that helps get results, not the parents handing the kid an iPad. Even still, it's the choices the kid makes that will define who they are, more than any other factor.
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 @factchekr I can cite more than one "odd standout". I do agree that the upbringing does play a vital role, however four guns flashing on the top of an iPad game is probably not going to send anyone over the edge.
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I can think of person after person that I know of have seen grow up and there is no correlation between how they were raised and how they turn out. One group made their own mistakes and learned from them. Another group, raised in a substantially similar manner made their own mistakes and never learned.Â
No, not a lie, especially not a bold faced one. We all know people who were apparently raised right and still went bad. That's part of the human psyche. But while you cite the odd standout, I can cite hundreds where the norm is proven. Having worked with young children for years, I have observed exactly what I'm saying.
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But, you are right that hands on parenting still has the moset influence on a child's development. A child will eventually make their own choices, but when they're young and developing their morals of right versus wrong, it's what they are taught and exposed to that sets their standards.
Ugh, here we go with the "guns are evil", and if it weren't for this evil, "normal" people would not kill?
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*Get this, normal people need guns as long as abnormal people may get them!
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You don't get it. Exposing little kids to violent games is wrong. Little kids don't have the life experience to separate fantasy from truth, or appropriate from inappropriate. But, maybe you just don't care. Go oil your gun.
What a bunch of malarky. When do kids not see guns? They're in the news, in advertisements, countless TV shows and movies. Kids still play army and guns, and its perfectly healthy. No exposure to images of firearms are going to cause children to do anything. I'm appalled a story like this is even news. And I'm appalled KOMO has turned to such pop journalism ever since guns have become newsworthy.
To make a statement like yours you have to ignore years of research that shows little kids are emotionally healthier when they are not exposed to violence. Later, when they have formed their own ideas of moral from immoral, right from wrong, and appropriate from inappropriate the violence in games does not affect them as much. I'm appalled you can make the statement you did without doing a lick of research.
Like cigarettes, you got to them while their young or else they'll grow up to be healthy non-smokers who choose not to shoot people. Â
The headline is as misleading as the ads were surely inadvertently linked to the reported sites. Amateur Drew would have you think the ads were "for" guns. That would be evil and you should be fearful and angered.
 @HawkEye I would not want my children to be shown pictures of guns and it wouldn't matter to me if they were real or virtual depictions.
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This is more a problem of the app developer for developing an app shows advertisements in an app intended for children.Â
But most of the time, the app developer has no say in what ads are shown over that app. That's decided by complex algorithms written by the the platform developer. (iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, etc.).Â
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 @KH So rather than educating your children on the subject you choose abstinence, which has been proven an absolute failure. Not good.
What a ridiculous statement. A violent game is "educating" kids? It is a parent's right and responsibility to raise their kids as they see fit, and if they choose to protect them from violent games, they shouldn't have to worry about ads for them popping up on apps designed for little kids.
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Since you use the "proven" in your statement, what proof are you referring to?
CRY ME A RIVER
Hello? What is wrong with the parents? Turn off the game! Read a book play a board game with your child rather than having them get sucked into online games. What happened to human interaction? Send them outside to play. It is insane the way you rarely if ever, see children playing outside. It's a crying shame.
 @Dami Rodriguez Yes, those horrible anti-social parents, the state should clearly take custody of this poor neglected child!!! /sarcasm