Chocolate and sex
- 9 May 06, 05:22 PM
First chocolate oranges, now padded bras. Today the Tory leader has extended his warning that all business is not good business.
You may recall that very early on in his leadership David Cameron criticised shops for pushing cut price chocolate on to customers when they bought a newspaper or a magazine. Why not, he asked, push real oranges, not just chocolate ones? He was criticised by some for interfering with business and talking about trivia. This has not put him off.
Today he has warned British companies to resist the sexualisation of products to boost sales.
He pointed to the withdrawal by BHS of a range of underwear for kids - which the company initially defended as "harmless fun" - after some mums objected to the fact that padded bras and sexy knickers for the under-10s were on sale.
"Like many parents I talk to, I'm concerned by the impact on children of the increasingly aggressive interface of commercialisation and sexualisation," Mr Cameron said. "I have no desire to wrap kids in cotton wool. Growing up is about finding out what goes on in the real world. But the protection of childhood innocence against premature sexualisation is something worth fighting for."
What's the politics of this? David Cameron is looking for evidence that he is "prepared to stand up to Big Business".
It's all part of his campaign to surprise voters and to convince them that his party has changed. It's a great - indeed an irresistible - talking point for newspapers, phone-ins and, yes, blogs too. It involves no policy commitment, no money, just words alone - which is about all an opposition leader has to offer
