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Professor David Buckingham, who authored a December 2009 report for the government on 'The Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing', was critical about the social responsibility initiatives his panel reviewed when compiling the report.

Buckingham felt the social responsibility evidence the business world supplied to the panel was a "defensive response", and was short on evaluation of how initiatives actually benefited children, rather than promoting a brand.

However, the report was criticised by fellow speaker Martin Finn, the managing director of education marketing and research agency EdComs, for focusing on earlier examples of bad practice of companies' involvement in schools, such as Cadbury's 2002 Get Active scheme, and not including up-to-date information, such as the role businesses were playing in constructing the new diploma qualifications.

This drew the response from Dr Agnes Nairn, a professor of marketing who was on the report panel, that it was up to industry to submit up-to- date information to the panel.  

In a Q&A session, representatives from Baby Milk Action and the National Union of Teachers separately aired concerns about the influence brands have when they get involved with schools. Both warned that an independent voice was crucial.

The NUT representative raised the example of Boots' sun lotion brand Soltan providing curriculum material, saying it was praiseworthy, but there was a danger of undermining children's ability to critically evaluate what they were being taught.

The creation of an independent authority to scrutinise brands' activities in relation to children was touched on by Nairn, who said perhaps there was a case for an ASA-like body to cover schools, and by another speaker, Olive Boles.

Boles is the director of strategic relations for a charity called the International Business Leaders Forum, which aims to get businesses involved with social issues such as human rights and obesity.

She claimed some of the businesses she spoke for supported the idea of having an independent body, and proposed setting up a private forum where businesses, lobbyists and educationalists could discuss best practice on marketing to children.

Today's event was the Westminster Media Forum Keynote Seminar: Children In The Commercial World and was sponsored by youth research and marketing agency Dubit.