Mother knows best

The Mother’s Union calling on brands to sign Fairtrade-style pledges to protect children from advertising (“Brands urged to sign pledge to children”, MW 16 September) is in my view a PR stunt that promotes The Mother’s Union while doing little to protect children from harm.

mother
Mother’s Union: Limited effect?

This project will certainly appeal to a number of brands that need to ensure the continued loyalty of mums across the country. There may even be a few others that jump on this bandwagon, but in the greater scheme of things this is only ever going to be a minority of advertisers.

The advertising industry is already heavily regulated in the UK, and rightly, stringent steps are in place to protect us and our children from inappropriate content. More censorship is not the answer. Responsible parenting is.

My concern with this headline-grabbing initiative from The Mother’s Union, is primarily that it sends out the wrong signals to parents, who could as a result let their guard down. They remain the most important custodians of their children’s welfare and delegating this responsibility to advertisers is a mistake.

Paul Robinson, CEO, KidsCo

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