See No Evil (1/3) By Bekki Stephenson

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

In a society rife with obesity, violence and drug abuse, do cartoons provide us with escapism or are they themselves the biggest danger of all? Bekki Stephenson investigates

Sir Paul McCartney recently credited Bambi with inspiring his fight for animal rights. Back in December of last year, the former Beatle was quoted in The Daily Mail as saying If you think of Bambi, it's mum gets killed by a hunter, and I think that made me grow-up thinking hunting isn't cool. Along with his late wife, Linda McCartney, whose meat free-products were a huge success, he has spoken out against everything from vivisection and hunting to livestock farming and wearing fur, and one Christmas even bought a turkey to save it from slaughter.

Cartoon characters can have considerable influences on our lives. From an extremely early age we are introduced to these animated characters that are, in many households the centre of activity for children, often acting as babysitters. So it is hardly surprising we soon form relationships with them, and often imitate their behaviour.

It appears that Disney's much-loved deer has had a profound influence on Sir Paul's life, but cartoon characters do not always have such positive consequences on society. In this instance a cartoon influencing vegetarianism is not so detrimental (although research and meat-lovers may suggest otherwise). However, the use of cartoon characters to market unhealthy food, Scooby Doo Heinz spaghetti hoops, Madagascar fromage frais' and Simpsons doughnut cookies to name but three, is supporting the increasing numbers of obese children in Britain.

Tim Palmer, Creative Head of Online at leading advertising company, CDP Travisully says; the cartoon character is a well known weapon of the marketer, children rarely care about what they eat, they just care about what the box looks like and if the box has their favourite Shrek character on it. This makes it very difficult for parents to say no. He admits, junk food advertisements should be subject to such strict advertising codes as alcohol and tobacco.

3.8 million people in the UK are dependant on alcohol, yet one in five men and a quarter of all women are obese. Each year in the UK, 300,000 people die from obesity, costing the NHS at least £500m a year.

Which?, the consumers' organisation, describes the use of popular characters such as Scooby-Doo, Bagpuss and Winnie the Pooh on some products as manipulative marketing ploys that make it difficult for parents to refuse their children these foods. Perhaps not a problem if what they are selling is healthy, nutritionally-balanced food, but in fact it is quite the opposite. HP pasta shapes, with Bagpuss packaging may look harmless but they actually contain 3.75g of salt; almost double the 2g of salt recommended for a child aged between one and three should consume in a day and more than the 3g recommended for a child aged four to six.

Continued...... Next Page (2/3)

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