NO: Colin Cather, marketing director at Bottle PR, Eynsham

I didn’t want a bike, I wanted a Raleigh Chopper. I don’t remember seeing any adverts for the coolest kids’ bike in a generation, but suddenly everyone had it so I wanted it too.

And when it came to mum choosing breakfast cereals – well, I told you about the Honey, Mummy (that one was definitely straight off the telly advert).

The thing is, I never did get a Chopper, I had a hand-me-down Dawes Kingpin, and breakfast was own-label cornflakes.

That’s because, along with the existing, stringent ASA code, there has always been an incredibly effective form of regulation on marketing to children. It’s called parenting.

Adverts, and all forms of marketing, are created to be persuasive: some ads are better than others; some of them don’t even look like an ad. It’s an hilarious Youtube clip, or part of the twitter-stream-of-consciousness.

They are there to sell things and help us choose and I happen to think that’s a good thing. My preferences are part of who I am and I’m happy with that process beginning in childhood. I want my kids to have an answer ready when I ask “what do you want for your birthday?”

And today we act as though these persuasive forces are greater, or our kids are more vulnerable. But all these channels still have an off-button. And the “everyone’s got one” argument has always been there, whether it was Scalextric or Superdry hoodies or Samsung Galaxy phones.

It’s just that some mums and dads say ‘Yeah, and…?’, or ‘Save up for it yourself’. The best regulation is, to quote Sammo from Grange Hill’s particularly effective 1980s anti-drugs ad campaign, “Just Say No.”

 

YES: John West, music technology and media teacher at Faringdon Community College

Advertising to young children should be restricted as it teaches children that consumerism is okay from a young age.

Children are quite often fooled by advertising companies that claim a product available is the best thing, but quite often children are left disappointed and quickly move on to the next best thing, fuelling consumerism and materialistic values.

These values suggest that children need to have material possessions in order to be happy. As an extreme example, you just need to look at what happened with the London riots, where children appeared more concerned with what they could get their hands on rather than the actual reason behind the riot.

Children do not have the same choices as adults and are extremely vulnerable due to their little experience of life. It is only as they mature that they have the ability to make informed rational decisions and advertising companies know this, which is why they prey on this lack of experience in order to sway children’s decisions, forcing them into choosing their product.

This can also create conflicts within the family as children do not truly understand the value of money and therefore do not understand why a parent might say no.

Let children be children and let them enjoy their childhood without being told it's better to be mature and have the same things as adults.