Public policy issues in children’s advertising and programming

Reviews the growing pressure in the UK to establish a more restrictive regime in children’s advertising; much of this pressure comes from Sweden. Links this vehement opposition to children’s TV advertising to distrust of both advertising and television, and compares BBC and commercial programming. Points to the growth of merchandising in children’s programming, and to the high revenues obtainable from this; these can far exceed that from advertising alone. Argues that children’s programming has increased enormously in the last decade, except in countries where advertising has been banned, and so that bans on broadcast advertising appear to be ineffective and inappropriate.