Popular TV shows such as ‘Paw Patrol’ and ‘My Little Pony’ are making children prejudiced

POPULAR TV shows such as ‘Paw Patrol’ and ‘My Little Pony’ are making children prejudiced, according to a new report.

More action is needed to “shape the perceptions” of children watching noninclusive TV, the report claims.

The study, titled ‘Is TV Making Your Child Prejudiced?’, argued pre-school entertainment is guilty of poor minority representation and the use of stereotypes.

‘Paw Patrol’ was criticised on gender balance, while ‘My Little Pony’ was found lacking in portrayal of class distinctions.

The report claimed children’s TV shows fail to adequately represent black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) characters, the LGBT community, disabled people, women and the working class.

The study, by children’s app company Hopster, said progress has been made but argued “more work needs to be done to help positively shape the perceptions of our youngest generation”.

Nick Walters, founder of Hopster, said: “Many shows aimed at pre-schoolers are entertaining and educational, but it’s clear from our research that stereotypes still creep in.

“It’s so important that kids from all types of families see themselves represented.”

The report examined 50 popular children’s TV shows for inclusivity and the negative or positive nature of on-screen representation.

It has been claimed only 9pc of material viewed showed working-class families, with mansions and palaces commonplace in children’s TV.

The report said this lapse is “demonstrated in ‘My Little Pony’, where the unintelligent, ‘working-class’ goat characters are given strong Southern US accents”.

Concerns were also raised that only 16pc of content studied displayed disability, and often did so negatively. Only 7pc of studied content reference an LGBT character.

‘Go Jetters’, cited as a good example, was praised for “featuring a male unicorn as a lead character”, and an episode where male characters lean in to kiss each other.

Hopster said: “White characters dominated the content selected for this study.”

Its study found BAME representation was tokenistic, such as in ‘Horrid Henry’, and that shows missed the opportunity to portray diverse faiths on screen. Only six shows of 50 had BAME lead characters.

The report claimed a third of content viewed perpetuated gender stereotypes, showing “boys who fight” and “girls who are image-orientated”.

It cited Paw Patrol, “where, although all equally capable, there are only two female dogs alongside the five male leads”.

‘White characters dominated the content selected’