Who’s messing with my mind? The implications of dual-process models for the ethics of advertising to children

The debate surrounding the ethics of advertising to children generally centres on the age at which children have developed sufficient cognitive resources both to understand the persuasive intent of marketing messages and to critically evaluate them.

Who's messing with my mind? The implications of dual-process models for the ethics of advertising to children

Agnes NairnEM-Lyon Business School

Cordelia FineUniversity of Melbourne

INTRODUCTION

When is it fair to advertise to children? This debate has focused largely on deciding upon the age at which children acquire an acceptable degree of 'persuasion knowledge' (Moses & Baldwin 2005; Wright et al.2005). That is, the age at which children can recognise advertising, understand its selling and persuasive intent, and use this understanding in evaluating the advertised product or service. Increasingly, however, research shows that older children with...

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