Arguments Against Paternalism Essay

After the advertising has appeared to the world, our life seems to become much easier than before. It has taken salesmen’s place in the last decades since people prefer to sit in their chair and watch the vivid introduction to the products than to listen to the salesman’s boring words. People can get to know the product that they want to spend money on in a more brief and visible way through ads. The advertising has already brought a lot of benefits to the customers, as well as the manufacturer. More and more manufacturers like to use ads to publicize their product. As a result, we can see any kinds of product in the street and on the screen. And here comes a problem. When a woman is walking in the street with her 6-year-old kid, the little guy points at a beer billboard and says to his mom: “I’m thirsty. Can you buy me that drink? It seems good.” With no doubt, his request will be rejected and he will be told that it is not good for him and he hasn’t been the age to drink that. Ads, with content of tobacco, alcohol or sex, can be very unhealthy to kids and teenagers. However, in our daily life, it’s very easy to see these unhealthy-to-teens ads. Adults watch these ads just
One common argument is that paternalism attack freedom of choice. That point seems reasonable, but actually doesn’t make any sense. According to “The New Paternalism: The Avuncular State” of The Economist, the state should repress a man’s a man’s acts only if they harm others. The article also mentions that Harm to himself alone was not a good enough reason for the state to limit his freedom (19). If a teenagers watch smoking ads and then start to smoke, that will be his own business since he only harm to himself that government have no right to make paternalism on him. However, as an individual group, advertising companies are harming teenagers by these ads so that at this time government do have right to control them by