Children's dress sense raises eyebrows

Some clothing designs that can be called "sexy" and which are best-suited to adults are now available for children to wear. Although there is nothing illegal about it, it still raises concerns.

Stricter norms apply for the children's clothing industry in terms of material used given their tender skin. Because of their underdeveloped understanding of the world, there should be a higher threshold when it comes to designing clothes for children too. Definitely, not all elements of adults' attire are suitable for minors.

To begin with, parents should fulfill their responsibility and make sure their children are dressed appropriately. They should help raise children's awareness so that they are not lured by what is in vogue because of a consumerist culture.

Schools are also obliged to help inculcate in children a proper dress sense that aligns with good customs. E-commerce platforms are also expected to ensure that the products and services they offer do not violate public order and good customs, and guarantee, as far as possible, that their operations do not constitute threats to the rights and interests of minors or risks to their safety.

Those business owners who use child models to advertise the aforementioned inappropriate clothing and the platforms selling such attire are both suspected of breaching relevant laws and regulations with regard to minors' rights and interests.

It is the collective inaction of the guilds, marketing watchdogs and law enforcement departments that jointly makes the industry and supply chains in the above case complete. Even more so, parents who allow their children to be used as models for the problematic commercials promoting the above kind of clothing should be held accountable for failing in their custodial duties.

It is suggested that the marketing regulatory departments make the channels through which people report such problems more responsive, and the punishments meted out to platform companies as severe as the harm their slack oversight has caused, not to forget the bad social influence it has cast, so as to deter others from doing the same.

And the garment and e-commerce industry must strengthen self-discipline and regulation.

In a nutshell, children should never have to pay the price for adults' greedy and foolish behavior.

BEIJING YOUTH DAILY