Premium rate watchdog primes 'Miss Bimbo' probe
PhonepayPlus thinks of the children
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The premium rate regulator, PhonepayPlus, will investigate Miss Bimbo, the controversial website for young girls that has been accused of promoting crash dieting and plastic surgery.
The virtual fashion game encourages players to become the "hottest, coolest, most famous bimbo in the whole world".
The site falls under PhonepayPlus' remit because it offers premium rate text message services on top of its free website registration, which is available to anyone who'll say they are at least nine. Players text for £1.50 a pop to buy "Bimbo dollars" to pay for outfits in the game.
In a statement, the watchdog said:
In addition to issues around cost, our rules make clear that services should not exploit or provide content that parents are likely to think unacceptable.
We are looking into claims that the Miss Bimbo service might contravene these requirements. If any parents or children have views or concerns about this or any other service, they should contact us.
The PhonepayPlus site is here. The announcement comes as a rash of press reports reflect outrage from parents over Miss Bimbo.
The game's French sister site caused a similar kerfuffle when it launched there last year. It now has 1.2 million players.
Creator Nicolas Jacquart, based in London's Tooting, insists it is harmless fun. He told the local paper: "The breast operations are just one part of the game and we are not encouraging young girls to have them."
"It simply mirrors real life in a tongue-in-cheek way."
Miss Bimbogate sets the stage nicely for the release of the Byron Review tomorrow. Child psychologist Dr Tanya Byron has been charged by the government with investigating the effects of the web and videogames on young minds. ®
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COMMENTS
This site is popular with young women
I did some analysis using Hitwise Internet usage data and users of this site do skew towards younger women. More here: http://weblogs.hitwise.com/robin-goad/2008/04/miss_bimbo_who_is_visiting.html
Stop being daft...
As someone has stated it is called bad parenting! Why can't anyone else see this? No one can police the net, so frankly...if they are made to stop it i shall just create a new one. But i'll make everything free so there is nothing the 'parents' can say. There is no point in this stupidity, if you have a problem with it don't go on it...simple.
@ Anonymous Coward
"But why do I think most of the players are middle-aged men?"
This is truer than you think. A while back I was involved in management for a major record retailer. A fair chunk of the people who bought Britney Spears and similar crap were 30 something males with greasy combovers, hiding their purchases under their coats on the way out of the store so that mother didn't see it when they got home.
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