Millionaire by 12? The WhiteHat Jr ad and India's pressure culture

TBH, this ad worries me a lot. Hear me out before pulling out the pitchforks.

The ad is from WhiteHat Jr. Each creative has a kid sitting at a laptop with a tagline on top: “Game Developer at Age 7”, “CEO at Age 13”, “Millionaire at age 12”.

This started as a thread on X, and the ad is in its first post:

Fair warning, this is a rant. <rant>

The same old Doctor/Engineer cliche

Indian society has always been a little too aggressive on the high-performance/high-pressure culture.

IMHO, this ad doesn’t paint any different picture than the 90s/00s cliche of parents pressuring their own children to become a Doctor or an Engineer from a very early age. Hence, robbing them of sports, hobbies and every other extra-curricular activity, purely because of a social construct.

Maths and Science over everything else

I remember growing up in a childhood where my marks in Maths and Science always had way more importance than my marks in English or Social Science. Don’t even think about Arts or Music!

I could never understand the reasoning behind it, and my questions about it were mostly discouraged. The reason, if demanded, was that I was being disrespectful, or that I was too young to know what’s good for me and should not waste my time on sports or learning to play a guitar.

My engineering batch

Don’t get me wrong, I am a software developer myself. I absolutely love tech, I am very passionate about computers and I have no qualms about being what I am today. But sadly, I can not say the same for 90% of my batchmates in Engineering.

Most of my peers were doing B.Tech either because it was more prestigious (to them? their families? society?) or because it was something they just “had” to do before they could explore anything else. A lot of my friends fell into the same trap w.r.t MBA as well. A lot.

Why does this keep happening?

Nobody asks what the kid enjoys

No one just wants to stop and ask: what do I really enjoy doing, or what would I like to do for a living?

This question is usually a taboo in lower to middle class families, because every parent wants their children to do everything as per a template. Any deviation from that path and you get marked as an outcast or a rebel in the whole family, or even your local community. Vo chaar log kya kahenge?

And this pattern goes on at every step of a “child’s” life, until they are 30 years old?!

Why the ad bugs me

While I understand the appeal of “playing it safe” for a lot of not-by-choice unprivileged folks, this WhiteHat Jr ad does nothing but fuel the same old monotonous and tiring stereotype! It just pushes that “child” onto a very narrow, predetermined path laid out for the masses.

No child should be pressured into becoming a Millionaire by 12 or a CEO by 13. Are there prodigy outliers? Yes. But that’s a very small %ile.

Forcing a majority into working on someone’s pipe dream by robbing them of their childhood is just wrong on so many levels.

</rant>

1 of 10

TBH, This ad worries me a lot. Hear me out before pulling out the pitchforks. A thread - 1/n <rant> Indian society has always been a little too aggressive on the high-performance/high-pressure culture.

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

2 of 10

IMHO, this doesn't paint any different picture than the 90/00s cliche of starting to pressure your own children to become a Doctor/Engineer by a very early age. Hence, robbing them of any type of extra-curricular activities, sports, hobbies purely because of a social construct.

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

3 of 10

I remember growing in a childhood where my marks in Maths and Science always had way more importance than my marks in English or Social Science. Don't even think about Arts or Music subjects.

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

4 of 10

I could never understand the reasoning behind, & my questions about the same were mostly discouraged. The reason, if demanded was that I am being disrespectful or that I am too young to know what's good for me & I should not waste my time on sports or learning to play a guitar.

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

5 of 10

Don't get me wrong, I am a software developer myself. I absolutely love tech and am very passionate about computers and have no qualms about being what I am today. But sadly, I can not say the same for 90% of my batchmates in Engineering.

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

6 of 10

Most of my peers were either doing because it was more prestigious(to them/their families/society?) or it was something they just "had" to do before they can explore anything else. A lot of my friends fell into the same trap w.r.t MBA as well. A lot.

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

7 of 10

No one just wants to stop and ask what do they really enjoy doing or would like to do for a living? This question is usually a taboo in lower to middle class families because every parent wants their children to do everything as per a template and...

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

8 of 10

any deviation from that path is usually marked as an outcast or a rebel in the whole family or even your local community (Vo 4 log kya kahenge?) This pattern evident across all the steps of a "child's" life until they are 30 years old?!

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

9 of 10

While I understand the appeal of "playing it safe" for a lot of not-by-choice unprivileged folks, this WhiteHat Jr ad does nothing but just fuels the same old monotonous and tiring stereotype! It just boosts that "child" into a very narrow predetermined path for masses.

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

10 of 10

No child should be pressured into becoming a Millionaire by 12 or a CEO by 13. There are prodigy outliers? Yes. But that's a very small %ile. Forcing a majority into working on someone's pipe dream by robbing them of their childhood is just wrong on so many levels. </rant>

@jatinkrmalik, 6 October 2020

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