Apparently the government aren’t content to go back to the 1980s, and we’re now heading back to the 1950s:
David Cameron is to back a plan to stop retailers selling inappropriate clothes for pre-teens and shield children from sexualised imagery across all media, including selling “lads magazines” in brown covers and making the watchdog Ofcom more answerable to the views of parents.
Retailers would be required to sign up to a new code preventing the sale of items for pre-teens with suggestive slogans, which the prime minister has repeatedly criticised.
Selling “sexy” clothes to kids is pretty low-grade thing to do, but surely fingers need to be pointed at the parents that are buying these things for their kids in the first place? If T-shirts with the Playboy Bunny logo on them didn’t sell, the shops wouldn’t stock them.
Tighter restrictions on the 9pm watershed won’t work when most kids have TVs in their bedroom and are allowed to watch whatever they want at any time of night.
I’m also not sure that “sexualised imagery” on TV, billboards and magazines distresses children, although it might result in an awkward discussion or two with mum and dad.
Really this seems to be the government taking the easy way out and getting some positive headlines. After all, telling parents to take more responsibility probably doesn’t make a good headline on the front page of the Daily Mail.
22nd June 2011 at 9:19 pm
I love it how the Tories can’t stop themselves going all family values on us. It’s like a default setting.
You know it’s only a matter of time before one of their number is forced to make a cringing apology to the media, for letting down his family, his party, but most of all his country.