Has the commercialisation of childhood won? To advertisers children are anything from small, absorbent consumer capitalists, to fulcrums of parent pester-power, and receptacles of prematurely adult concepts. As child-targeted commercialism exacerbates gender stereotypes and pushes ‘status anxiety’ on our most formative years, and childhood itself becomes a buyable product, how do parents and communities respond?
Reg Bailey left a three-decade career in business to become the first male chief executive of Mothers’ Union in the organisation’s 130-year history. He helped to transform an organisation sometimes perceived as outdated into a dynamic and relevant charity, committed to supporting family life in all its forms, which undertakes groundbreaking work in community development in 81 countries.
