I only know the UK law (a little), but from Consumer Protection Regulations 2008 it's often technically illegal to directly market to children. No idea whether it's really been applied, but there is also a bunch of regulation and industry guidelines that limits marketing in practice.
This was an implementation of an EU directive concerning unfair practices, so presumably similar laws apply in other European countries.
(Inevitably this is a bit slippery, but as I understand it there are a number of very common marketing tactics that are specifically outlawed. Some countries like Sweden have just banned advertising aimed at children)
> 28. Including in an advertisement a direct exhortation to children to buy advertised products or persuade their parents or other adults to buy advertised products for them.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/made/data.xht?...
The knowledge that a thing exists and the indication that it has desirable traits works perfectly well (just as it does for adults); children don't need to be told to persuade their parents to get it for them, persuading their parents to get them things they have been convinced they want is what kids are programmed to do.
That regulation is, like, the definition of making a show of doing something about a problem while doing absolutely nothing at all.
What? I'm pretty sure kids are highly marketed. Toys, breakfast cereal, video games, etc... there are regulations and in the case of vices, outright restrictions... but at least in Europe and North America, advertising to children is very common... much to the chagrin of parents who are currently being spammed by their kids for a Rocket League season pass because they were spammed by the ads on the Xbox.