Age of Consent

Tom O’Sullivan

The reason you can play the Lottery at 16 but cannot enter a bingo hall until 18 is because one of the games requires a “skill factor”. You might justifiably ask why bingo requires more skill, and is therefore more corrupting of youth, but the anomaly highlights a more fundamental question of whether age limits of 16 and 18 are still relevant in a society where we are being constantly told that consumers are maturing earlier.

The Home Office, responsible for licensing issues, only advises on existing legislation. A spokesman could not tell Marketing Week why the limits are apparently arbitrarily set at 16 and 18, or even how long they have been in existence. “It is what Parliament has deemed appropriate,” he says.

It would be political suicide for any politician to argue that lower age limits for drinking, smoking and gambling should be scrapped but what purpose are the limits serving if they are being flouted by so many teenagers? Arguably,they are designed to protect public opinion rather than encourage any sensible discussion of when a child becomes a consumer.