Are we cramping our kids' childhood?

One of the fondest memories of my childhood was that every Sunday, as a treat, we'd go to my grandparent's place for lunch. And after lunch, my granddaddy would take us (my brothers and I) for a little stroll down the road to the kedai runcit (sundry shop) and let us pick anything that cost RM 1.00.

I'd almost always pick Ding Dang:

Photo taken from helmy murad at his flickr page

Yup, do you remember the time when the advertisements were splattered all over TV - a bunch of kids running around blowing bubbles, shooting water guns, playing with jumping frogs? "Tora datang lagi..." was always the opening line.

Well, remember them well because those days are almost gone if FOMCA have their way. I couldn't help but feel the front page of today's NST was a bit unfair:

Here's an excerpt:

Sha'ani said it would also lobby the government to adopt the International Code on Marketing of Foods and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children, which had been submitted to the World Health Organisation. 

Among the code's guidelines are a ban on radio or TV advertisements of unhealthy food from 6am to 9pm, ban on the inclusion of free toys or cartoon characters in food packaging and a ban on using new media, such as the Internet, and text messaging to lure the children.

I understand why people are up in arms over the marketing of unhealthy food to children but have you ever seen the smile on the child's face when he's just been given a McDonald's Happy Meal? I have, and I've been the one smiling thanks to my brand new Grimace race car.

Or what about the Hello Kitty craze? I heard adults were the ones queueing up for those.

The problem here isn't advertising. There's nothing wrong with allowing companies to promote their products with cartoon characters especially if it puts a smile and injects some fun into the kid's childhood. If anything, the key concern should be clamping down on false advertising and emphasising responsible parenting.

Growing up to Ding Dang ads everyday didn't make me an obese adult. I doubt it affected many of my friends at all. And it's not like fastfood wasn't just as ubiquitous in the 80s. So, why clamp down now?