Shops 'exploit children' for profit

The National Union of Teachers, Britain's biggest teachers' organisation, condemned Asda, Tesco and other retailers for forcing children to grow up too soon. Both supermarkets strongly rejected the charges but the union called for new laws to combat the increasing "commercialisation of childhood".

Speaking as the NUT's annual conference in Harrogate got under way, general secretary Steve Sinnott said society was "letting our children down".

"Youngsters are the target of advertising, of sponsorship, of messages that are so unhelpful that they can damage children's well-being," he said. "We are letting our youngsters down."

The NUT called for a Government ban on all forms of advertising in schools and all marketing - on mobile phones, magazines, the internet and television - - which promotes unhealthy food and drink to children. The demands came in a new NUT charter on the commercialisation of childhood, Growing up in a Material World.

The charter warned that parents are being "pestered" into buying expensive clothes and toys because children are bullied at school if they do not have the latest "cool" items.

The document said: "Childhood is becoming increasingly commercialised.

"Companies are unashamedly targeting their campaigns to exploit children's 'pester power' on every level, from day to day purchases of food and drink, through treats such as meals out, to clothes and toys, which can include expensive electronic equipment."

The union warned that many children felt pressurised into developing the perfect body, with teenage boys resorting to taking steroids as an "instant fix" to obtaining the ideal physique. And girls are developing eating disorders and wearing sexualised clothing and make-up in an attempt to conform it argues.

An Asda spokesman said the supermarket had sold black and pink lace knickers around five years ago, but they had been withdrawn. "We take our duties as a responsible retailer very seriously indeed," the spokesman said. Tesco also rejected the NUT's allegations.