September 01, 2010
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News: Target To Sell Facebook Credits
Do you remember the UK mother who discovered her 12 year old son had racked up over $1,400 in credit card charges while planting trees, growing vegetables, and tending to his animals in his pretend farm on the Facebook game FarmVille? The boy first exhausted all of his own funds to purchase extra supplies before resorting to his mother's credit card. It took two weeks before the mother had discovered her son was using her card and then the charges continued on into several more weeks. Since that time, Facebook has been involved in seeking new ways for kids, or adults for that matter, to pay for their Facebook gaming without threatening parents' credit card use. Facebook is teaming up with the retail giant, Target, to sell gift card versions of its Credits.
Target will begin selling the cards on September 5th which will function as a virtual credit card. They'll be three denominations; $15, $25, and $50. The card is expected to help parents more closely monitor what their children are doing while providing a new method of income for both Facebook and Target. The creative marketing strategy will bring a greater awareness to the public and provide a new idea for holiday gift shopping. By purchasing the new Facebook's Credits card, parents can safeguard their credit cards.
It's not difficult to see that Facebook has targeted the young teen with the latest marketing strategy. The UK youth is not an isolated case. There have been other reports of youth accessing their parents' credit cards to play Facebook's addictive games. A simple click on its website would reveal how extensive game playing is on Facebook. Unfortunately for the youth who could potentially lose all of their hard earned babysitting and lawn mowing money as well as those subprime individuals who do not personally qualify for a credit or debit card, the new card could drain what little they have.