Advertising To Kids: A Kantian Perspective

Ethical issues in Advertising to Kids – A Kantian Perspective

“Give me a child from any background and I’ll turn him into anything you want—a scientist, politician or even a criminal.”

Edward Chace Tolman, American Psychologist, 1932

Although Tolman intended to apply his theory to human learning, almost all of his research was done with rats and mazes. However, his theories are now used by big time brands and advertisers to convert children into consumers. Kids market is found to be lucrative by the advertisers. In the 1960s, children aged 2 to 14 directly influenced about $5 billion in parental purchases. In the mid-1970s, the figure was $20 billion, and it rose to $50 billion by 1984. By 1990, kids’ direct influence had reached $132 billion, and in 1997, it may have peaked at around $188 billion. Estimates show that children’s aggregate spending roughly doubled during each decade of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and has tripled so far in the 1990s.(1)

The unique vulnerabilities of the children raise serious ethical questions about the marketers who exploit these vulnerabilities to make profits. At the heart of the debate is the infringement of the rights of the kids by the marketers. Immanuel Kant, the 17th Century German Philosopher, in his influential works, The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and The Critique of Practical Reason, has given us a philosophical frame work for evaluating the right and wrong. To set the standards high for evaluating whether advertising to kids is ethical or not, it will appropriate to apply the Kantian theory to examine the