i suspect the board will have a field day with this one... so wrong:
Alarm as dolls get breast implants in 'Miss Bimbo' game Story Highlights:
# Young girls can buy their virtual dolls breast implants on Miss Bimbo Web site
# Girls compete to become the "hottest, coolest, most famous bimbo"
# Site is popular among girls aged 7 to 17 years old
<img src="http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/WORLD/europe/03/25/miss.bimbo/art.missbimbo.ap.jpg" alt=" - " />
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A Web site that encourages girls as young as seven to give virtual dolls breast implants and put them on crash diets has caused concern among parents and children's activists.
The provocatively named "Miss Bimbo" Web site launched in the UK last month and is described as a "virtual fashion game for girls."
Girls are encouraged to compete against each other to become the "hottest, coolest, most famous bimbo in the whole world."
When a girl signs up, they are given a naked virtual character to look after and pitted against other girls to earn "bimbo" dollars so they can dress her in sexy outfits and take her clubbing.
They are told "stop at nothing," even "meds or plastic surgery," to ensure their dolls win.
Users are given missions, including securing plastic surgery at the game's clinic to give their dolls bigger breasts, and they have to keep her at her target weight with diet pills, which cost 100 bimbo dollars.
Breast implants sell at 11,500 bimbo dollars and net the buyer 2,000 bimbo attitudes, making her more popular on the site.
And bagging a billionaire boyfriend is the most desirable way to earn the all important "mula" or bimbo dollars.
Working, it seems, is a bit of a chore in bimbo world.
The site says: "Bimbo dollars is 'the cabbage,' 'bread,' the 'mula' you'll need to buy nice things and to get by in bimbo world. To earn some bimbo cash you will have to (gasp) work or find a boyfriend to be your sugar daddy and hook you up with a phat expense account!"
The advice on feeding the dolls is even more spurious, encouraging them to feed the dolls "every now and then" even though they want to keep their Bimbos "waif thin."
The British version already has nearly 200,000 players, most of whom are girls aged between 7 and 17, according to the Web site.
Although it is free to play, when the contestants run out of virtual dollars they have to send cell phone text messages costing $3 each or use PayPal to top up their accounts.
In France, where "Miss Bimbo's" sister Web site, "Ma Bimbo," was criticized by dieticians and parents when it began last year, one parent threatened the creators with legal action after his daughter ran up a $200 mobile bill sending texts without his knowledge, according to the Times of London newspaper.
Parents' groups are horrified that the game is taking off in Britain, fearing it could send the wrong message about eating disorders and plastic surgery to young girls
Bill Hibberd, of parents' rights group Parentkind, told the Times the game sends a dangerous message to young girls.
He said: "It is one thing if a child recognizes it as a silly and stupid game.
"But the danger is that a nine-year-old fails to appreciate the irony and sees the Bimbo as a cool role model. Then the game becomes a hazard and a menace."
One parent also told The Times the creators were irresponsible. Nick Williams said he was appalled when he saw his daughters Katie, nine, and Sarah, 14, playing the game.
Williams, 42, an accountant, said: "I noticed them looking at possible breast operations and facelifts for their bimbos at the game's plastic surgery clinic.
"Katie is far too young for that kind of thing and it is irresponsible of the site's creators to be leading young girls astray. They are easily influenced at that age as to what is cool."
However, the creators of "Miss Bimbo" claim it is "harmless fun."
Nicolas Jacquart, the 23-year-old Web designer from Tooting, south London, who created it was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying: "It is not a bad influence for young children. They learn to take care of their bimbos. The missions and goals are morally sound and teach children about the real world."
He added: "The breast operations are just one part of the game and we are not encouraging young girls to have them, just reflecting real life."
discuss.
