Bailey Review: crackdown on sexualised media culture to protect children

Reg Bailey, chief executive of Christian charity the Mothers’ Union, who led the independent review, said parents felt that they had no control over the increasingly sexualised culture surrounding their children. Other key recommendations from his report Letting children be children, aimed at protecting children include:

• a new website should be set up to make it easier for parents to complain about inappropriate sexual content in family TV programmes, adverts and products
• age restrictions on music videos
• covering up sexualised images on the front pages of magazines and newspapers
• making it easier for parents to block adult and age-restricted material from the internet
• calling on shops to sign up to the British Retail Consortium’s new guidelines on the design, buying, display and marketing of children’s clothes, to ensure they are appropriate for children
• parents' views about regulation of pre-watershed TV and what is suitable for children to watch should be considered more important than those of all viewers
• banning children under 16 from being employed as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing, and raising parental awareness of advertising and marketing techniques aimed at children

Mr Bailey said, ‘Society has become increasingly full of sexualised imagery. This has created a wallpaper to children’s lives. Parents feel there is "no escape" and no "clear space" where children can be children.

‘I want to put the power back in parents’ hands so they can better manage the pressures on their children and make it easier for them to bring up their children the way they want.

‘Parents need encouragement to feel they can change things and that their voices will be heard. Regulators, businesses and broadcasters should do more to connect with parents – it’s not enough for them to work out what is acceptable from what people complain about afterwards. I hope that they see that it’s good business if you look out for families. Then we can all help to make Britain a more family-friendly place.’

Children’s minister Sarah Teather said, ‘I’m very grateful to Reg for his insightful and thorough review, and for recommending a set of practical measures to help parents protect their children in the increasingly sexual and commercial world we live in.

‘It is not Government's role to interfere in family life. But parents often tell me that they would like more support so that they can navigate the rapidly-changing technological and commercial world. Reg’s review shows the way for business and Government to give them this support.’

In a letter to Mr Bailey, Prime Minister David Cameron said, ‘We will look carefully and consider our response to all your recommendations. But I note that many of the actions you suggest are for business and regulators to follow rather than for government. I support this emphasis, as it is consistent with the Government’s overall approach and my long held belief that the leading force of progress should be social responsibility, not state control.’

He also gave the go-ahead for ‘a single, user-friendly’ website to be set up for parents to help them to complain about inappropriate content.

A meeting will be held at Downing Street in October with retailers, advertisers, video games manufactures, magazine editors and others, to work on the recommendations.

Dr Katherine Rake, chief executive of the Family and Parenting Institute, said, ‘So much will depend on implementation and what action is taken if self-regulation fails to keep pace with parents' concerns. It’s reasonable to give UK businesses 18 months to get their house in order. But the threat of harder measures must be acted upon if unscrupulous marketing and advertising to children continues unabated.’

Leigh-Anne Stradeski, chief executive of Eureka!, the national children's museum, said, 'Allowing children to be children for as long as possible and encouraging their natural instincts to play freely helps lay the foundations for the development of life skills, including self-confidence and self-esteem.

'Building strong relationships from early on allows us to talk openly to our children about their understanding and interpretation of sexual images, and broader issues around sexuality, which kids will inevitably come across, and to encourage positive behaviours through discussion and role modelling.'