I’ve been having a bit of a rant on the radio this week about the commercialization of children’s Christmas. We know they’re after our money –I’m talking about advertisers here. But our research showed that kids think that nice man on the telly, extolling the virtues of the latest tamawotsit, has their interests at heart. That’s why they’ll believe whatever the ads tell them and are ready prey for marketers. Never was this more apparent than in the letters to Santa that we analysed. When 6-year-old kids write in their Santa list ‘available from all good toy stores’ and ‘only £19.99 from Argos’ you know that the training of the next generation of consumers is underway with a vengeance. The government’s Children’s Plan announced this week talks about educating children about television advertising. All very commendable but what about educating them about the ‘off’ button?