A-style: harmless nipple-slip or unfair tactics

So I was surprised to find television sponsorship of an event with national sport status in these countries employing such blatant sexual imagery in such public places. It may once have been what people thought was a symbol of defiance akin to a Che Guavera t-shirt, but it has now entered the realms of carefully considered international brand building exploiting humanity's inbuilt primitive autonomous responses.

A-Style's sponsorship of mainstream primetime sporting events takes matters to a new levels of being in the public's face. It is a very clever logo driving a very clever international brand that's growing like topsy … and it appears to purposefully push the limits of what’s acceptable solely in the pursuit of profits.

That’s part of the brand and recognition building exercise.

As a member of the media, I'm all for free speech, lack of censorship and freedom of information to all - but another voice which captures my concerns really well is Kids free to be Kids which is concerned about "exposing children to inappropriate sexualized imagery in a bid to sell products and make profit."

There was a recent report on the sexualization of children by the Australian Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communication and the Arts which concluded that self regulation doesn't work and legislation is required.

Kids Free to be kids founder Julie Gale puts the argument quite convincingly in these videos from a television talk show in Australia.

There are some well-written reports on the subject, such as this one entitled "Corporate Paedophilia" on the kf2bk site.

We asked Dr Max Sutherland, author of global advertising textbook Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer about the nature of the A-style brand image, whether its effects were subliminal and its likely impact on children.

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