Advertising to children

Madam, - I agree with Lorraine Dockery (April 23rd) that the sex-sells-everything approach by most advertising agencies nowadays…

Madam, - I agree with Lorraine Dockery (April 23rd) that the sex-sells-everything approach by most advertising agencies nowadays is pushed without the slightest concern for the effect on young children and teenagers.

The same anything-goes attitude is shared by most publishers of magazines, including those specifically aimed at young readers.

And what has become of the

9 p.m. TV "watershed", which was intended to protect children from sex and violence in early evening programming?

READ MORE

It seems to me that soaps such as Coronation Street, Eastenders and our own Fair City contain themes such as domestic violence, rape, drug-taking and under-age drinking which are unsuitable for family viewing before 9 p.m.

The music channels on TV, which broadcast (round the clock) videos, the vast majority of which lean more and more towards soft porn, are all aimed at the biggest purchasers of CDs - young children and teenagers - without the slightest concern for the 9 p.m. watershed.

As Ms Dockery says, parents rightly demand measures to protect children from paedophiles and also demand policing of the Internet. But does anyone in authority concern themselves with the other insidious forms of abuse - Yours, etc.,

FRANK W. KELLY, Terenure, Dublin 6W