Clothing, Products and Services for Children
Overview
- Sexualised and gender-stereotyped clothing, products and services for children are the biggest areas of concern for parents and many non-commercial organisations contributing to the Review, with interest fanned by a sometimes prurient press.
- The issues are rarely clear-cut, with a fine balance on a number of points – taste, preference, choice, affordability, fashion and gender preferences.
- Retailers are aware of the issues and sensitivities and are responding.They need to be explicitly and systematically family friendly, from design and buying through to display and marketing.
WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE
That retailers do not sell or market inappropriate clothing, products or services for children.
RECOMMENDATION
6
Developing a retail code of good practice on retailing to children. Retailers, alongside their trade associations, should develop and comply with a voluntary code of good practice for all aspects of retailing to children.The British Retail Consortium (BRC) should continue its work in this area as a matter of urgency and encourage non—BRC members to sign up to its code. ACTION: Retailers and retail associations, including the BRC
Introduction
1.
As set out in Theme 1, we all (adults and children, parents and non—parents) live in a world that has become increasingly sexualised. Sexual images form a wallpaper to our lives, all—pervasive but hardly noticed.This background affects adults as well as children and is
everywhere in society.2.
Since the commercial world is not immune from, and indeed often invests in, the notion that 'sex sells', it is perhaps not surprising to find research evidence that parents, including those who took part in the qualitative research for this Review and our Call for Evidence, see a reflection of this sexualisation in some children's clothes, toys and games and other services for children.
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