I was dismayed to find that many of my long standing favourite kids sites have now resorted to showing ads that I consider inappropriate to show on a site targeted at pre-teens – Nickjnr.com being one of the worst offenders.

The difference between the UK and the US site are immense.

Screenshot of NickJn.com

The banner along the top is advertising a site which needs parental approval if the child is under 18, and which under 13s are forbidden to join.

It’s a 3d chat site, where all the avatars are incredibly sexy – not something I would want my impressionable 13 year old granddaugher getting involved with.

The large tower banner is promoting Forex trading, short term trading of international currencies – very risky!

I find it incredible Nick Junior, part of the Viacom empire, would stoop to show this type of ad.

The UK version (right), on the other hand, is a truly great site for young kids and parents, with only one unobtrusive ad, which is promoting reading.

NickJnr.com’s response to my complaint about these ads was to imply that my computer must have a malicious malware problem which was causing unwanted ads to show, and even offered to help me clean my machine!

I have forwarded them a screenshot and await their reply.