Many parents are concerned that their children are under pressure to grow up too quickly. This pressure to grow up takes two different but related forms: the pressure to take part in a sexualised life before they are ready to do so; and the commercial pressure to consume the vast range of goods and services that are available to children and young people.
The Government asked Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of Mothers' Union, to carry out an independent review looking at these pressures. The review builds on the earlier work of Prof Tanya Byron, Prof David Buckingham, and Dr Linda Papadopoulos.
Letting Children Be Children: the Report of an Independent Review of the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood was published on 6 June 2011. Reg Bailey called on businesses and broadcasters to play their part across four themes:
- the sexualised imagery that has become a ‘wallpaper’ to children’s lives
- clothing, products and services for children
- children as consumers
- making parents’ voices heard
The Government welcomed Mr Bailey’s analysis and the thrust of all his recommendations, including that it should take stock of progress after 18 months and consider what further measures may need to be taken to achieve the recommended outcomes.
On 17 October 2012, children’s minister Edward Timpson, announced that the Government had started the stocktake of progress. As part of the stocktake, we have gathered evidence of progress from parents, businesses, regulators, charities and parenting organisations. We will publish our assessment shortly and set out what further action is necessary. Progress to date on the recommendations includes:
- work by the internet industries to make it easier for parents to restrict children’s access to adult and age-restricted content on the internet, which we now want to go further
- we have consulted on whether the current age rating system for DVDs and Blu-ray discs should be extended to protect children from inappropriate material
- the British Retail Consortium developed a code of practice for its members on retailing age-appropriate clothes for children
- the Advertising Standards Authority issued tighter guidelines on outdoor adverts containing sexualised imagery
- Ofcom issued new guidelines to broadcasters on observing the 9pm watershed on television and music videos
- the UK media regulators set up a single website, ParentPort, to make it easier for parents to complain about any programme, advert, product or service
- a pledge by members of the Advertising Association not to employ children under 16 as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing
In December 2012, the Prime Minister appointed Claire Perry MP to be his advisor on the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood.
