Popup Adverts In Games For Kids – Is This Right?

My child was playing around on a kids drawing program, we downloaded from the App Store, for our new Apple iPhone and an Advertisement popped up at the top of the screen whilst they were drawing – and sure enough they pressed it. My child didn’t know that is was an advertisement nor did they make a real conscious choice about selecting it. The first I knew of it was when they asked me what it was for – I am just glad the content it bought up wasn’t of an inappropriate nature for a five year old.

I understand that application developers need to earn an income and this is often derived through appropriate placement of advertising in mobile applications however…

My question is this – for Apple iPhone applications, or applications for any other device for that matter (We have seen similar for the Android), that are clearly aimed at the small children’s market – are pop up adverts suitable or even appropriate?

I can’t imagine how it might benefit the advertiser, and it is certainly lost on the child. For the parent it is simply a cause of concern and for the developer it pretty much equates to a false click-through?

What are your thoughts on this matter? Am I being an over-sensitive parent?

Update: The most recent occurrence of this has been a photo goo style application for the iPhone where you move your finger over the image to make a photo look weird – my daughter moved a little too far and activated a pop up ad which actually dialled in 0845 number on the iPhone – fortunately, we were using the device together at the time otherwise you can imagine how much the bill might have stacked up!