UK discount clothes retailer Primark has withdrawn padded bikini tops aimed at girls as young as seven, amid concerns that they were sexualising children for a profit.

The retailer has also been reportedly selling knickers for seven-year-old girls emblazoned “You’ve scored” and joins a growing list of retailers censured for marketing sexualising products to kids. This includes Tesco for its pole-dancing kit, sold as a toy in 2006 with the slogan “Unleash the sex kitten inside”, and Next for its T-shirt for girls under six printed with the slogan “So Many Boys . . . So Little Time”

Marketeers have also been criticised for their reliance on the colour pink to sell to very young girls. A discussion website, PinkStinks, has been set up.