Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Indirect child labour

We find many commercials using young children to promote or endorse different products, irrespective of whether or not the product advertised is meant for the consumption of children or adults. This is an indirect form of child labour that deprives children of time to concentrate on education, sports, and other extra-curricular activities.

Parents, who want to see their children on television or hear their voice on the radio, encourage, rather force, these young ones to participate in the advertising trade. One wonders why the law, which bans employment of children in hazardous industry, hotels, shops, and as domestic help does not cover the advertising industry.

Will the government look into this issue before it takes deep root and spoils the childhood of the future citizens of the country? The media can do their bit by rejecting ads that have children advertising products irrelevant to them.

C.R. Srinivasa Rao,

Chennai

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