No boys allowed?

Having spent the last week and a half pretty much trapped indoors by ill-health, I've been watching substantially more TV than I normally would, mostly Discovery and History channel documentaries. In the run-up to Christmas, the advertising is pretty much what one might expect, centring on toys, gifts and food. The cast of characters, if one can call it that, within the various adverts, is interesting, though, and an extension of something which seems to have been happening for quite some time. It appears that some decision, whether overt or not I couldn't even guess, has been made that attractive boys are not allowed on screen any more. Even those adverts which have boys amongst the cast seem to be filmed in such a way that they have the absolute minimum of screen time, or ensure that they're obscured in some way or other. The advert which seems to have been the watershed for this phenomenon was one that aired regularly some months ago for, of all things, Whiskas cat food, which featured a screamingly cute 7 or 8 year old blond boy and 'his' almost equally photogenic cat. "I love my cat", and all that, I'm sure the Brits amongst my readership who watch any amount of TV will know which advert I mean. Presumably some faceless wonder has decided that the 'wrong' kind of audience would be attracted to the advert, and thus the product. Another step closer to all kids being locked up for their own protection until they're 18 and deemed to be old enough to suddenly be released into the outside world with no life experience or social skills. If anyone these days grows up well adjusted, it seems to be in spite of rather than because of society's 'values'.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B