Sir - Now we are gripped by the full onslaught of Christmas commercialism, we can see from our TV screens how spending on advertising for children's toys has increased six-fold since 1992. The effect of this will be visible on many children's faces when they realise they haven't received this year's latest thing form Santa and will again suffer humiliation in the playground when they undergo a thousand social comparisons as they compare tales of what has been received.
Sweden , Norway, Belgium and Austria have all banned advertising during children's TV programmes as legislators there see the obvious examples of capitalism further damaging the emotional health of children. Would we be asking too much of RTE to do the same?
Thought so - Yours etc. Stephen J. Place, St Brendan's Crescent, Dublin 12.