Ban Miss Bimbo to protect kids pleads MLA

Local & National

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

An online game which sees players guide young female characters through a virtual world of crash diets and plastic surgery should be banned, an MLA urged today.

Alliance health spokesperson Kieran McCarthy said youngsters must be protected from the website - Miss Bimbo - after reports that children as young as nine-years-old are logging on and playing.

Mr McCarthy said he was extremely concerned that the website will promote poor body image among children across Northern Ireland, as well as glamorising dangerous eating disorders. And he said steps must be taken to remove the website as soon as possible: "There is already enough pressure on children as it is and it is our duty to protect them."

In the month since it opened the site, which is aimed at girls aged from nine to 16, has attracted 200,000 members. Players keep a constant watch on the weight, wardrobe, wealth and happiness of their character to create " the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the world".

Competing against other children, players earn 'bimbo dollars' to buy plastic surgery, diet pills, facelifts, lingerie and fashionable nightclub outfits. Perhaps most shockingly, the rules of the website state that despite contestants wanting "to keep your bimbo waif thin...every girl needs to eat every now and again" and advises feeding the character to prevent her dying of starvation.

"I am not happy about this website at all," continued Mr McCarthy. It is aimed at children and is dealing with adult themes and there is a very real danger that it could encourage children to do something which may damage their health.

"Children should be children for as long as possible and they should be allowed to enjoy their childhood. I don't think it would be too strong to say that this website should be removed from the internet. I'm not sure which Assembly department would deal with this but it is something I will look into. This kind of website is not something that should be available to young children. The Assembly must look at this issue. The very suggestion that young children are playing around with something like plastic surgery is ridiculous."

However, a key figure behind the website, businessman Chris Evans (30), said it was "ludicrous" to claim the game was potentially dangerous.

Mr Evans, who is helping to promote the website in the UK, said: "You can feed the bimbo whatever you want - steak and chips, vegetables, chocolate . . . it is a game, you create your character and you can choose whether to give your character a boob job."