Guilt

I've been struck lately by how much of the advertising around us works on pushing child-related guilt buttons.

Take cars for instance. So many car adverts seem to feel the need to feature children, especially if the car isn't especially child-friendly. The other day I saw an ad for some flashy sports convertible (I think it may have been a Jag) which showed a young-ish, clean-shaven man gripping the steering wheel tight whilst twisting around frightening bends in a Mediterranean-style setting. And then he pulls up outside his house and his wife and child come skipping out of the front door and they both jump in the car and Daddy takes them for another spin round the cliffs.

'Don't feel guilty about buying this car for yourself. The kids will enjoy it too.' That seems to be the message.

Perfume adverts are using children more too, usually in the form of some curly-locked cherub leaping up into her mother's arms, brushing her hand across mummy's oh-so-beautifully scented cheek and then nuzzling into her chest.

I'm not convinced, though, that people do feel guilty about spending increasingly large amounts of money on luxuries for themselves. If they did, we probably wouldn't need the guilt-button-pushing adverts.