If it's not misleading, then it wouldn't be impacting "impressionable kids". They're misled to believe that there won't be a negative consequence.

The marketing exists outside of the "buy now, pay later" scheme. "Buy now, pay later" is not a scam.

The very phrasing, "buy now, pay later" is predicated upon the implication that it provides a benefit without a negative.

Where does it imply a benefit without a negative? The "pay later" part is clearly stated

"Pay later" is a benefit, to the audience we're discussing, as it means "not now".

Young adults actually have processing problems over impulse control [0], and so cannot see any drawback to "not now" - in fact they likely do not have a way to fully conceptualise that something will occur in the future.

All "buy now, pay later" translates to is "instant gratification", nothing further.

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2964271/

Lacking impulse control does not mean that the entire concept of "pay later" is a scam.