Is this a symptom of the 'pornification' of our society - the blurring of boundaries between the porn-soaked internet and society? Or is it just something that happens in a liberal democracy, which parents like me need to relax about?
Sexualised advertising near nurseries and schools could now be banned, if the recommendations of Reg Bailey's review are accepted. On the whole, however, the review avoids blanket bans. The thrust of it is to empower parents to complain about material they feel is inappropriate, making it easier to raise concerns and removing the stigma of being a complainant.
Mary Whitehouse would no doubt be proud, but today's society is far more sexually charged and our multi-media landscape far more permissive than in her heyday. Many of the review's recommendations hark back to that bygone era. Like strengthening the 9pm TV watershed - which could be of limited use once your four-year-old learns how to operate your on-demand TV.
Other recommendations, like calling for music videos to have movie-style age appropriate classifications, give parents a guide, rather than censoring or prescribing content. But they require parents constantly to supervise their children - increasingly difficult as their offspring acquire internet-enabled mobile phones.
The strongest recommendations are those that threaten retailers with bans on inappropriate clothing. Industry has acted already to get the shelves cleared voluntarily, before regulators step in, but the fact that products like padded bras for six-year-olds had a market in the first place shows parents are not always able or willing to protect their children.
Polling shows that wealthier parents are far more concerned about sexualisation and commercialisation than parents from lower socio-economic groups. The issue of class is one that is fundamental to the challenges facing parents and the context in which children are brought up. The re-emergence of the Playboy brand is emblematic of the way that the sexual revolution of the 21st century has more in common with the 'Life on Mars' laddism of the 1970s than its trailblazing feminism.
