Labour MPs have attacked pre-Christmas television ads for ‘war toys’ and
claimed they are breeding a generation of violent men.
Thirteen Labour MPs have signed a Commons motion urging parents not to
purchase ‘war toys’ or games portraying violence as Christmas presents.
‘Encouraging boys to want war toys and other violent games is the start
of a process of brutalisation which leads on to all the undesirable
behaviour patterns exhibited by so many males in later life,’ the motion
claims.
The MPs are demanding a Government-financed study into the likely
connection between toys and male violence - a course of action ministers
are expected to reject.
Tony Banks, the Labour MP who led the Commons attack, said: ‘Television
is inundated with advertisement after advertisement putting pressure on
kids, in order to put pressure on parents to buy some of the most
violent and aggressive toys imaginable. Every year they get more and
more violent.
‘I feel there has got to be some connection between putting aggressive
toys into the hands of our male children and aggressive male behaviour
in later life’.
Banks insisted he was not attacking advertisers or claiming that
‘everyone who plays with a war toy ends up a serial killer’.
But he believed the Government had a duty to fund a research study into
the impact of such toys. ‘It seems rational and reasonable that there
could very well be a connection. Otherwise, how do you explain so much
male violence in society? We have got to start looking for the causes,’
he said.
