Consider that Britain is the land of the "page three girl". This is a feature of the trash tabloid The Sun, which has been running photos of topless models on the third page for over thirty years. Although, to be fair, it says more about owner Rupert Murdoch than it says about Britain as a whole. They're nearly as repressed as Americans when it comes to sexuality.

But I didn't realize that British videogame magazine publisher Imagine had no compunction about running ads for pornography in the back of videogaming magazines such as X360, Powerstation, and Play. And this is without the usual parental and retailer notification on the cover of the magazine (I believe the Brits call it Certification). A livid father writes an account here of using his 8-year-old daughter in a sting operation at various retailers. I figured that can't have been much fun for the little girl, but he says in the discussion forum after the article that she was a "right little trooper" who noted "I shouldn't be able to buy this, dad."

Here in the US, we've had our own controversies about videogaming magazines running ads, some of them particularly gory, for M-rated games. However, I can't see any justification for advertising age-restricted products like pornography, alcohol, or cigarettes in a videogaming publication. Imagine should either stop selling the ads or they should certify their magazines as inappropriate for certain ages.