Ads in Best Interest of EU’s Children?

I wonder how the media execs could claim that Disney ads were guaranteed as a child’s right by the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child [“Effort in EU to Ban TV Ads Aimed at Kids Gains Steam,” July 9].

The glitzy ads I’ve seen, which appeal to emotion and desire, could not be covered under any “right to information” act.

I’m only minimally worried that my 6-year-old daughter will sue me for not letting her watch television--or even for taking away her right to see this informative advertising.

Children have a right not to be “consumers,” and they even have the right not to be raised to become consumers.

We must resist the deluge of messages that claim, directly or not, that shopping and owning is being.

Dana Cairns Watson

Bel-Air

*

I’m still in a daze after reading about the U.S. advertisers that market their junk to children and are opposing a Sweden-led European Union effort to ban advertising to kids under 12.

Their argument is priceless: “Children as consumers have a right to information about the products available to them. This right is enshrined in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

What can I say, except thank you so much, Disney, Viacom and AOL Time Warner, for being so concerned about the rights of the EU’s children.

Robert Grunburg

Marina del Rey