The role of commodified celebrities in children's moral development: the case of David Beckham

Research around the moral dimension of children’s involvement in consumption culture has tended to focus on the ethics of targeting children as a specific market segment and on children’s progressive cognitive ability to understand either the persuasive intent of commercial advertising or the symbolism inherent in brands. In contrast, this paper explores the subtle and complex roles which consumption culture may play in the moral development of children themselves. Just as a cognitive development approach to understanding how children relate to advertising and brand symbolism is limited, so too are philosophical approaches narrowly equating moral development with cognitive development. We draw on perspectives which consider the social and cultural context of moral evolution to frame a qualitative study of children’s relationships with commodified celebrities. We focus on the part played by celebrity soccer player David Beckham in providing children with a means of debating and negotiating the moral ambiguities and complexities of contemporary consumer culture, especially those relating to the cults of the celebrity and of the spectacle.