In response to a review headed by Reg Bailey of the Mothers’ Union, David Cameron will announce today that toy, food, drinks, clothing and electronics companies will no longer be allowed to pay children to promote their products at school or on social networking websites.
The Daily Telegraph reports today: The move is due to be announced by the Prime Minister, who has welcomed the Bailey Review, which looked into concerns that children were being pushed too hard and too fast into the adult, commercial world.
Letting Children be Children, the review commissioned by the Government and undertaken by Reg Bailey, the Chief Executive of the Mothers’ Union, covers the internet, clothes, television and. advertising, and will be published today.
Major retailers will promise, as part of the initiatives, to stop selling high-heel shoes, underwired bras and sheer tops for children younger than 12.
Mr Cameron has already written to Mr Bailey saying he particularly welcomed three of the recommendations in the report.
The first was that billboards with sexual imagery should be only be erected in locations where children are unlikely to see them. This means they will have to be sited away from schools.
The second was that children are protected when they watch television, are on the internet or use their mobile phones by “making it easier for parents to block adult and age-restricted material” across all media.
And the third recommendation that Mr Cameron is keen to see implemented is stopping “the process where companies pay children to publicise and promote products in schools or on social networking sites by banning “the employment of children as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing.”
Mr Cameron said he would convene at meeting in Downing Street in October with members of the retail, advertising, music, and internet industries to see how much progress was being made.
In a letter to Mr Bailey, Mr Cameron said: “By the time this meeting happens, I also want progress to have been made on one thing in particular. In your report, you stress the importance of there being a single, user-friendly website that sets out “simply and clearly what parents can do if they feel a programme, advertisement, product or service is inappropriate for their children.” This not only seems entirely sensible, but also relatively easy and simple to introduce.”
More at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8558017/Bailey-review-companies-must-not-pay-children-to-promote-products.html