Reg Bailey

“ We do not want to cut children off from the commercial world completely as we believe that it brings benefits and parents tell us that they want to manage the issue themselves, supported by proportionate regulation and responsible businesses. While adults may understand that companies might look to 'push the boundaries' when advertising to them, children are especially vulnerable and need to be given special consideration. Special measures already exist in advertising and marketing regulations to protect children but some gaps exist. ”

“ Previous reviews of these issues have been led by eminent academics and practitioners. I am neither, but took on this task as someone who is passionately interested in supporting family life, not only through my job as Chief Executive of Mothers’ Union, a charity supporting parents and children in 83 countries of the world, but also as a parent and grandparent.
We live in a society that is changing at what is, for many, a bewildering rate. Increased levels of wealth have created strong commercial pressures on every one of us, whether or not we have participated in that affluence. ”

“ This Review concludes that neither approach, although each is understandable, can be effective on its own. We recognise that the issues raised by the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood are rooted in the character of our wider adult culture and that children need both protection from a range of harms, and knowledge of different kinds appropriate to their age, understanding and experience. Parents have the primary role here but others have a responsibility to play an active part too, including businesses, the media and their regulators. ”

“ Industry already does much to help educate parents about parental controls, age—restriction and content filters. Such initiatives are extremely worthwhile, and should continue. However, it is not acceptable to expect parents to be solely responsible for what their children see online, and industry must take greater responsibility for controlling access to adult material online in the same way as they do when providing this sort of content through other channels, such as cinema, television, DVDs or adult magazines. ”

“ Children as Consumers
"...a parent's job is made considerably more difficult by the constant bombardment of advertising and the pressure on children to be, do and have a bewildering variety of products and experiences ranging from music, games and clothes to holidays and outings. Even if this does not reach one's own child directly, it inevitably reaches them indirectly by means of peer pressure." ”

“ The retailers of children's clothes we spoke to all have some form of checking process in place to 'edit out' suggestions of sexualisation from children's clothing. Some companies have written guidelines for buyers, others provide induction and training in company values. All the companies we spoke to depend, to a greater or lesser extent, on the fact that many of their designers, buyers and managers are themselves parents who bring their own 'family values' to bear in design and retailing judgements, and all claimed to pay relentless attention to the feedback they get from customers. ”

“ Parents themselves have the primary responsibility for helping their children to grow up safely and healthily and at a pace that is right for the individual child. Children need their parents to help them navigate the world around them and to give them appropriate values as well as drawing reasonable boundaries that help minimise actual harm. But parents also want and expect businesses to support them in this. ”

“ To provide a consistent level of protection across all media, as a matter of urgency, the internet industry should ensure that customers must make an active choice over what sort of content they want to allow their children to access. To facilitate this, the internet industry must act decisively to develop and introduce effective parental controls, with Government regulation if voluntary action is not forthcoming within a reasonable timescale. ”

“ Finally, whilst it seems that the recommendations place responsibility for our children and young people on parents, businesses, broadcasters, other media, regulators and government; I believe it does not absolve any of us as responsible adults from creating the right sort of environment that allows our nation’s children to be children. That way we all create and own a better society. ”

“ No doubt more research will be helpful, but we should not wait for this before acting: insufficient evidence to prove conclusively there is harm to children does not mean that no harm exists. If parents are concerned that their children are exposed to potential harm from commercialisation and sexualisation it is their common sense and their sense of what is right for their family that tells them this. ”

“ Since the commercial world is not immune from, and indeed often invests in, the notion that 'sex sells', it is perhaps not surprising to find research evidence that parents, including those who took part in the qualitative research for this Review and our Call for Evidence, see a reflection of this sexualisation in some children's clothes, toys and games and other services for children. ”

“ It is unfortunate that the lazy, uninventive 'sex sells' attitude of the media which plasters sexual images and articles everywhere, causes parents to have to address the topic with their children a lot sooner than many would like, before they are at an age where they are emotionally equipped to understand it. ”

“ Aside from actual complaints, there should be ways for parents' voices to be heard more generally on these issues and there is scope for businesses to capitalise on the power of instant feedback from their online activities. It is in all our interests, especially for businesses and regulators, to improve the ongoing dialogue with parents, to respond as meaningfully as possible to their views and to offer timely and transparent feedback, as a way of reassuring parents that it is legitimate to have concerns about such issues.
Knowing who to complain to–a complex complaints landscape
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“ Above all, however, we believe that a truly family friendly society would not need to erect barriers between age groups to shield the young: it would instead, uphold and reinforce healthy norms for adults and children alike, so that excess is recognised for what it is and there is transparency about its consequences he creation of a truly family friendly society is the aspiration in the meantime we need a different approach. ”

“ Retail associations in the news industry should do more to encourage observance of the voluntary code of practice on the display of magazines and newspapers with sexualised images on their covers. Publishers and distributors should provide such magazines in modesty sleeves, or make modesty boards available, to all outlets they supply and strongly encourage the appropriate display of their publications. Retailers should be open and transparent to show that they welcome and will act on customer feedback regarding magazine displays. ”

“ The approach we have taken throughout this Review has been to listen to the concerns of parents about the pressures their children are under to grow up quicker than they think is right, and to consider what should and could be done in a practical way to alleviate these pressures. Although we conclude that these concerns are not at the forefront of most parents’ minds, we do not consider that this is a reason for complacency. ”

“ The key to helping children to distinguish between advertisements and content is clear and consistent labelling, and there are many examples of good practice, such as the clear separation of 'paid for' and 'non—paid for' search listings on most search engines. ”

“ What is more, the broadcasters we spoke to accept that, to a certain extent, the watershed really only serves to protect younger children, typically those of primary school age, and that once children are old enough to be able to choose the programmes they watch, then they are also mature enough to enjoy stronger content in the later part of the pre—watershed period and just after it: "There are variations in how the watershed is used to regulate children's television viewing. ”

“ When it comes to inappropriate advertising and marketing, I want all businesses to play fair when selling to children and not take advantage of gaps in the regulation, especially regarding new media. It seems to me that there is enough goodwill for this to happen without legislation. ”

“ Parents responding to our Call for Evidence told us that they felt that retailers could do more to offer age—appropriate ranges of clothes. They said that they preferred children's clothes to be clearly age—appropriate and not simply scaled—down versions of adult fashion. ”

“ The Government may at that point feel the need to bring in further regulation to complete the task. But for now, there is good reason to believe that the business community, supported by engaged and responsible parents, can show that it is capable of playing its part in putting the brakes on the unthinking drift towards an increasingly commercialised and sexualised world for children. ”

“ In Norway, the government has implemented a number of recommendations designed to reduce the commercial pressure on young people, and to equip children and their parents with the skills to help them understand commercial information and to withstand commercial pressures. As in Quebec, there is a ban on advertising to children under 13 years of age 'by wire or over the air' and advertising is not permitted in schools. ”

“ Clearly television cannot be indifferent to popular culture or turn its back on pop music, comedy or other popular entertainments. Nor are we suggesting that pre—watershed dramas should not deal with difficult issues. Yet it appears to be the case that many parents are concerned about the content of certain programmes shown before the watershed and that pre—watershed programming can be unexpectedly difficult for parents. ”

“ For us to let children be children, we need parents to be parents Parents are clear that they have the main responsibility to raise their children, and to help them deal with the pressures of growing up. What parents have said, however, is that they need help to do so, and that businesses and broadcasters have a part to play in creating a more family-friendly world. We also want it to be more socially acceptable for parents and others to say that they are not happy about aspects of sexualisation and commercialisation, without fearing ridicule or appearing out of touch. ”

“ We are heartened that the industry is already taking a number of steps to ensure advertising and marketing to children is within acceptable standards. We welcome, for example, the introduction of the Children's Ethical Communications Kit website (www.check.uk.com) by the Advertising Association which is designed to help advertisers and marketers understand their responsibilities towards children and how to comply with the CAP codes. We would urge anyone involved in advertising to children to use the website. ”

“ Parental controls that might restrict children's access to adult content already exist on many internet—enabled devices. But whilst many provide a reasonable level of protection, they cannot be completely effective and in many instances can be bypassed relatively easily. However, industry experts we spoke to during this Review told us they believe parental controls are an effective way to prevent accidental access to harmful content and consider that the better products on the market can withstand reasonable attempts at disabling them. ”

“ Marketers also often seek to earn the endorsement of consumers without offering a reward.
Brand ambassadors
A brand ambassador is someone engaged by a brand or agency to promote or present a brand or product to others. This has traditionally involved celebrities or sportspeople acting as the public face of the brand, but a brand ambassador can be anyone being paid to promote a product to others, even for example their friends and family. The advertiser effectively employs the person as they would a traditional advertising medium like TV or Radio. ”

“ This approach also requires parents to acknowledge their own ambivalence towards some aspects of commercialisation and sexualisation. By not using parental internet controls, by buying an 18-rated game for a younger child, by wanting their children to have the latest technology and most fashionable clothes, parents can themselves be complicit in adding to the pressures. ”

“ Whilst a range of educational initiatives exist to support children in schools (DCSF/DCMS, 2009; Advertising Association, 2011) , there is a need to evaluate further the effectiveness of child media and commercial literacy initiatives both inside and outside schools. There is also a need for an increased focus on improving parents' awareness and understanding of newer marketing techniques and advertising regulation as a whole, enabling them with to support their children better in developing their emotional resilience to commercial pressures. ”

“ Broadcasters argue that the watershed is still an effective control and well understood by parents:
"We believe television generally is trusted by parents. Conventions such as the watershed make clear what sort of programming is available at what time." "The television watershed is an industry standard and is well known and understood by the audience... In all but exceptional circumstances, programmes before 9pm are suitable for general audiences including children."
Broadcasters, Call for Evidence response
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“ Our argument is that doing things a little differently benefits not just children and parents but businesses too, through helping them develop and provide the inds of goods and services that children and parents really want and are more likely to buy, and also by increasing customer confidence in the business. ”