Tories vow crackdown on 'sexy' children's ads

He vowed that should the Tories come to power, products and marketing geared towards young people that are deemed "manipulative" will be banned outright.

Attempts to prevent children from being subjected to sexualisation have long been championed by Mr Cameron ever since he became Tory leader four years ago.

However, he chose the popular ITV breakfast show GMTV to explain for the first time how a Conservative government would take action.

His comments came as pictures emerged of Peter Andre and Katie Price's two-year-old daughter, Princess Tiaamii, with straightened hair.

Children's charities welcomed Mr Cameron's proposals, but some parent groups cast doubt over the viability of state intervention in an area where personal interpretation is a major factor.

For his part, Mr Cameron outlined several key areas in which he pledged the Conservatives would take action.

• Tom Roberts: The power lies with the parents over 'sexualised' children's advertising

The first, and most notable, is the introduction of bans upon any marketing or advertising company found by the independent regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), to be in "serious breach" of rules governing marketing to children.

Described by Mr Cameron as a "significant deterrent," the ban would rule out offending firms from bidding for government advertising contracts for three years.

He also vowed to end the practice of peer-to-peer marketing whereby children as young as seven were used as "brand ambassadors" to sell products on the internet, as well as introducing a new online system whereby parents can unite for "rapid action taken against irresponsible products and marketing".

The father-of-two said: "The Lolita beds and the padded bras, in the end most of those products were withdrawn because of parental pressure, so let's help the parents to put that pressure on."

Claude Knights, director of Kidscape, the charity which aims to keep children safe from abuse, told The Scotsman she welcomed the fact Mr Cameron has called for such "specific actions".

"Campaigning groups have for a number of years served as a conduit for parental concerns and have successfully lobbied certain retailers and manufacturers of provocative merchandise for 'tweenagers'," she said.

"The proposal that there should be official sanctions against companies that produce and advertise sexualised merchandise aimed at children certainly needs to be seriously explored."

Penny Nicholls, director of children and young people at the Children's Society, said: "We need a significant change at the heart of society, where adults stand up for better values."

Eleanor Coner, information officer for the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, agreed that many parents have valid reservations.

"I'm quite concerned about the sexualisation of marketing to children, and a lot of parents are as well," she said.

Mr Cameron spoke in advance of a government-commissioned report from psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos which is due to be published next week.

Ed Balls, the children's secretary, said he and Ben Bradshaw, the culture secretary, met last month with the ASA to discuss some of the issues proposed by Mr Cameron, including the protection of children from online marketing. He promised that "further details will be announced shortly".

However, some have reservations as to the effectiveness of any proposed top-down regulation.

Only last month, a Scottish Parliament report ruled that any crackdown on sexual imagery in goods aimed at children would be "fraught with difficulties".