... at finding the aggressive advertising Christmas campaigns aimed at children, so totally wrong?

Busnesses are there to make money. Christmas toy advertising been around for years. Yes , children will always want the latest thing and be convinced that everyone else has or will have it. Ok if families can afford it but maybe there are times when we just have to say 'sorry, we can't afford to buy them .' We had to say this a number of times when our DDs were younger and they survived and don't hate us.

A lot of very interesting articles on the subject, if you'd like to read more.

Some psychologists cry foul as peers help advertisers target young consumers.

BY REBECCA A. CLAY

Ever since he first started practicing, Berkeley, Calif., psychologist Allen D. Kanner, PhD, has been asking his younger clients what they wanted to do when they grew up. The answer used to be "nurse," "astronaut" or some other occupation with intrinsic appeal.

Today the answer is more likely to be "make money." For Kanner, one explanation for that shift can be found in advertising.

"Advertising is a massive, multi-million dollar project that's having an enormous impact on child development," says Kanner, who is also an associate faculty member at a clinical psychology training program called the Wright Institute. "The sheer volume of advertising is growing rapidly and invading new areas of childhood, like our schools."

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According to Kanner, the result is not only an epidemic of materialistic values among children, but also something he calls "narcissistic wounding" of children. Thanks to advertising, he says, children have become convinced that they're inferior if they don't have an endless array of new products.

If the adverts were NOT having a strong effect on children, pushing sales up- advertisers would NOT spend millions on advertising, would they?

Ana, the advertising is on all the childrens' channels- coming on more or less every 15 minutes. Perhaps the word 'aggressive' was poorly chosen- and 'relentless' would be more apt- and this begins in mid October at least.

Sweden is not the only country that bans them, it is the same here in Switzerland, and I am sure, in many others too. To bombard children in this relentless commercial way seems so wrong to me- and to all the relatives and friends we talked to in the UK over past 2 weeks. So it seems strange so few here have commented. Do you really think it is appropriate and fair?

And, as said, these ads seem to fly in the Trades description act which clearly states that claims made in an advert have to be true to reality- the ads show plastic inanimate toys performing the most amazing stunts- which are totally impossible to do in any way, shape or form. Just like the lovely penguins in the JL ad.... at least they have the honesty to show, right at the end- that they are just that- stuffed, inanimate toys.

Shame on JL for refusing to make any kind of donation to the Penguin charity in hte Cape, that rescues 1000s of orphoned penguins just like the one shown in the ad, but I digress.

Apparently in Sweden there is a ban on toy adverts aimed at children under 12. At least it goes some way towards stopping the brainwashing.

The Amsterdam Schools of Communications Research found that children as young as 2 recognise brand logos, and the amount of TV they watch determines how many they recognise.

I must admit I haven't noticed many ads for Christmas toys this year, but perhaps because I only watch tv in the evening? In fact, I can't recall a single one...

Oh, toys never live up to the hype do they? Even before tv ads, the box of whatever it was that you were bought always looked more marvellous than it actually was.I haven't found ads to be aggresive, and my grandchildren love all the ads, I don't think they seriously expect everything at Christmas though, and are always happy with whatever they receive.