Children as old as six years are increasingly displaying inappropriate behaviour due to excessive sexual and violent content being shown in advertisements, video games and music videos.

Melbourne, April 30: Children as old as six years are increasingly displaying inappropriate behaviour due to excessive sexual and violent content being shown in advertisements, video games and music videos.

Following a similar complaint of sexualizing young kids, a soft drink company has been forced to pull its advertisement. 

Australian Childhood Foundation chief executive, Joe Tucci has said that nearly 200 such kids are referred to his service each year, a 20-fold increase from the past decade.

"There are children displaying aberrant sexual behaviour who can't even tie their shoelaces yet," The Courier Mail quoted him as saying.

"Sexualised images show that to be successful and powerful, you need to display this behaviour," he added.

Dr Tucci further said that some of the children displaying aberrant sexual behaviour were victims of abuse themselves, but a growing number were not.

"We ask children in counselling where they get these kind of ideas. They pick out magazines, pictures and videos"

It has been observed that kids usually display inappropriate behaviour through sexual assaults of other children and sexualised play.

Ramesh Manocha, from the University of New South Wales School of Women's and Children's 


Health has cautioned that the sanctity of childhood was under threat.

"The principle experience of childhood is under increasing pressure and has never been under such an attack as it is today," he said.

Manocha says to counter this problem, companies found producing material with a negative impact should be made to contribute to a fund for treating sexualised children.

However, Advertising Standards Bureau chief executive, Fiona Jolly has denied any need to have tougher restrictions on advertisers.