A/69/286 for the upbringing and development of their children. In accordance with article 3 (1), in all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. 57. In its general comment 17 on the right to leisure (CRC/C/GC/17), the Committee on the Rights of the Child recognized that the commercialization of children’s play environment influences how children engage in recreation, cultural and artistic activities. The Committee also expressed conc ern that: many children and their families are exposed to increasing levels of unregulated commercialization and marketing by toy and game manufacturers. Parents are pressured to purchase a growing number of products which may be harmful to their children’s development or are antithetical to creative play …. Global marketing can also serve to weaken children’s participation in the traditional cultural and artistic life of their community. 29 Many studies commissioned by governments and civil society groups support such assessments and underline that commercial advertising heightens children ’s insecurities, accentuates inequalities and distorts their gender socializations. 30 58. Most countries grant children special protection in relation to commercial advertising. Some prohibit television advertising at certain hours or in connection with children’s programmes. One principal element in legislation and the ICC code is that marketing directed at children should be clearly distinguishable from other content. A few countries prohibit all forms of advertising to children, regardless of the medium or means used. 31 59. The definition of a child for the purposes of commercial advertising in state legislation and self-regulatory codes varies from persons under the age of 12 to those under 18. Sometimes the age is not specified. The 12 years of age criterion is based on academic assessments indicating that by the age of 12 children have developed their behaviour as consumers, effectively recognize advertising and can critically assess advertisements. Academic and civil society organizations have asked for a ban of all advertisement to primary-school children. 32 60. Whether children of a certain age have developed adequate “cognitive defences” to implicitly processed commercial messages is contested, however. 33 __________________ 29 30 31 32 33 14/26 See also Susan Linn, “Commercialism in Children’s Lives”, in State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures from Consumerism to Sustainability, Worldwatch Institute, 2010. National Education Policy Center, “Effectively embedded: schools and the machinery of modern marketing”, thirteenth annual report on schoolhouse commercializing trends: 2009-2010, University of Colorado at Boulder; United Kingdom Department for Chilodren, Schools and Families and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, “The impact of the commercial world on children’s wellbeing: report of an independent assessment”, 2009; M. Barbovschi, L. Green and S. Vandoninck (eds.) “Innovative approaches for investigating how children understand risk in new media: dealing with methodological and ethical challenges ”, EU Kids Online, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2013. For example in Brazil, and in Canada, Denmark and Norway for children under 12. Ipsos MORI, in partnership with Agnes Nairn, “Children’s well-being in UK, Sweden and Spain: the role of inequality and materialism”, 2011; “Leave our kids alone campaign”, www.leaveourkidsalone.org. Agnes Nairn and Cordelia Fine (2008), “Who’s messing with my mind? The implications of dual-process models for the ethics of advertising to children”, International Journal of Advertising, vol. 27, No. 3, 2008. 14-58963