Jurisprudential Assessment of the Possibility of Addressing Minors in Commercials

To boost advertising effectiveness، the market is segmented into parts according to some indicators. Age is one of the criteria for customer segmentation، so the children make a part of it. The question of this research is whether children can be addressed in commercial advertising from the perspective of Islam? To answer this، we have to discuss it from three points of view. First، commercial advertising output is studied from the perspective of Islam and the West. According to Islam، the ultimate goal of advertising is audience awareness and because of lacking in the power to detect، children cannot be addressed in this kind of advertising. The second is that rationality is the necessary factor in transactions according to Islamic rules and any obstacle in using rationality for the allocation of revenues should be removed. Commercial advertising، by using psychological techniques، conquers the audience’s mind and commands them to follow its dictates. Children، due to their age conditions، are most affected by these ads and because of their pressure on parents to buy products، the necessary rationality for transaction will not be created. Furthermore، people need to have the distinguishing power of choosing a product that conforms with their needs or has priority، so they could rationally allocate the required amount. In the third discussion، the above issue is explained according to the Islamic principle “Beware of assisting each other with evil matters”، together with some instances of negligence of this principle when addressing minors. Finally، based on the reasoning given، it seems that addressing minors with commercial advertising is not that much advisable by Islamic standards.