Research has found that 42 percent of first- to third-grade girls want to be thinner, and 81 percent of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat, Hund said. “It is very clear that media has an impact on the body image of girls and women and eating disorders,” said Anita Hund, eating disorder specialist at the University Counseling Center. Players keep a constant watch on the weight, wardrobe, wealth and happiness of their character to create “the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the world.” Competing against other children, they earn “bimbo dollars” to buy plastic surgery, diet pills, face lifts, lingerie and fashionable nightclub outfits. The Internet role play game that was launched from France in February has attracted young girls who are told to buy their virtual characters breast enlargement surgery and to keep them “waif thin” with diet pills. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".“Miss Bimbo,” an online game that encourages girls as young as nine to create an alter ego that will allow them to explore plastic surgery and extreme dieting in the search for the perfect “bimbo,” was criticized by parents groups and health care experts last month.For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email or phone 020 7239 9857.Last year Phonepayplus, formerly known as Icstis, was drawn into the participation TV crisis that engulfed the broadcasting industry, handing out fines to a number of premium-rate phone operators. Since a flurry of media attention this week, the site has added a prominent link to a page addressing parents' concerns, detailing how its policies on storing and sharing data on its users and terms of use for those under 13. Jacquart said that users were encouraged to look after their characters, adding that if they ate too much chocolate they developed bad skin. Miss Bimbo's creator, Nicolas Jacquart, has dismissed the concerns, saying the site was "harmless fun". In the UK, Miss Bimbo claims 260,000 users - mostly girls aged between nine and 16. The site has faced similar problems in its native France, where it already has 1.2 million users. Parentkind spokesman Bill Hibberd said the game was also a "hazard and a menace" to young players who might not recognise the irony of a virtual beauty contest, seeing the "bimbos" featured on the website as role models. Miss Bimbo has been criticised by parents' rights group including Parentkind, which said the game could cause financial problems for parents if their children ran up large phone bills. "If any parents or children have views or concerns about this or any other service, they should contact us." We are looking into claims that the Miss Bimbo service might contravene these requirements. "In addition to issues around cost, our rules make clear that services should not exploit or provide content that parents are likely to think unacceptable. "Our code of practice has specific requirements for services that are targeted at children or likely to be particularly attractive to children," said Phonepayplus in a statement. The regulator is responsible for any service charged to a phone bill or pre-pay account and although Miss Bimbo is initially free to play, users need to stock up virtual credits by sending text messages that cost £1.50 each.
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