Mad About Boys, the new magazine launched in the UK this month for pre-pubescent girls, has been banned by the high-street chain Woolworth's before the first issue even hit the shelves. 
    The retailer finds the magazine more than slightly alarming. Comments a spokesperson: "It has controversial articles on love, fashion, diets and boyfriends. Many of our customers are children and we believe that the material within the magazine is not in keeping with the family image of Woolworth's."
     Mad About Boys, published by Planet 3, is aimed at 9- to 12-year-olds, the so-called tweenie generation. It combines fashion and diet tips  with articles on French kissing and pinups of boys.
    Girls pictured in the magazine wear makeup and there is advice on how to look like the waif supermodel, Kate Moss. The magazine even has a lonely hearts page, and the first issue includes a letter from an 11-year-old who worries that her best friend is flirting with the boy they both fancy.
    The magazine has been widely condemned by childcare experts and family groups, who are alarmed at the way the magazine addresses the sexuality message to younger girls. 
    However, publishing executives at Planet 3 deny that their new title is irresponsible.  While Planet 3 admits the magazine encourages girls to be "interested in and knowledgeable about boys," the publishers say the title does not encourage girls of that age to be interested in sex.
      Planet 3 says that their research into the interests of 9- to 12-year-old girls reveals a strong interest in boys, particularly those aged 14 to 17.
     Child protection agencies argue that this is the nub of the problem. With the age of consent set at 16 in the UK, they claim that by nurturing the sexual interest of 9- to 12-year-old girls in boys who are over 16, the magazine is in fact promoting illegal sex, as they term it.
    On a wider scale, child protection and the media are set to attract the attention of European regulators more than ever this year as Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union.
    The revolving presidency is passed between EU countries every six months, and while the role carries little real power it does provide a platform from which the presidential country can draw attention to issues close to its heart.
     In Sweden's case, this is likely to include the impact of TV advertising on children.
    Since the launch of commercial TV in Sweden just 10 years ago, the country has enforced severe restrictions of the broadcasting of commercials to the under-12s. 
   No advertisements can be shown immediately before, during or after children's programs. They cannot carry pictures, noises or music that appeals to children, and child-oriented advertisements can only be broadcast after 9 p.m.
    The rules have teeth, too. They are enforced by the Swedish Consumer Ombudsman, who has the power to impose fines on broadcasters of up to 10 percent of their turnover in cases of an infringement.
     While other European countries consider the rules to be draconian, the Swedish authorities point out that according to the European policy directive for the TV industry, all advertising must be easily identifiable as such. 
    The Swedes argue that because children do not understand what advertising is, and how to distinguish it from program editorial, child-oriented advertisements go against the spirit of the directive.
    A ban on child-oriented advertisements is not on the political agenda yet. Nevertheless, Sweden's presidential platform may provide the first step in a campaign to target the next revision of the "Television without Frontiers" policy at the end of 2002 for the inclusion of tighter controls. 
   Sweden does not command much power in European lawmaking forums in its own right. Yet it could easily attract the support of more powerful countries, such as France and Germany, which are more conservative in media terms and have a track record for regulating the TV industry on social policy grounds.    

-Simon Bond covers European media for Media Life, writing from outside of London.

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