BOLTON parents have slammed a top record store chain's advertising campaign as "flippant, unnecessary and irresponsible" after the word BLOODY appeared on posters.

The Virgin Megastore in Bolton's Market Place has massive placards in the window, promoting its "Bloody Big Sale". It is part of a company promotion at stores throughout the country.

But horrified parents, who regularly take their children shopping, were disgusted when they spotted the brightly coloured signs.

Mr and Mrs Brian Mather, who live in Harwood, wrote to the BEN to protest: "As caring parents of two primary age children we, like many others, have great concerns about the way we bring our children up to be caring, thoughtful, well-mannered individuals with hopefully a firm moral stand and self discipline. We were therefore horrified to see the way Virgin Records is promoting its sale."

Mrs Mather added: "Parents seem to be constantly fighting what could be called a losing battle as gradually more and more of the unacceptable is petering into our everyday lives as acceptable. This is just another example in an unending list. Virgin Records are not only attempting to promote their sale, but also the use of the word bloody as an ordinary word. The use of the word is flippant, clearly unnecessary and highly irresponsible."

Another parent, who did not want to be named, said: "It is a swear-word that children would have punished for using not long ago. Virgin can have no justification for using it. I am amazed that the Market Place management has not made them pull down the posters.

"If their only reason for displaying the word is that it is commonly used in the English language, what's to stop them using the F word next year?"

But Virgin Megastores defended their use of the swear word. A spokesman said the word had been used legitimately to advertise the sale, and in the context of the late 20th Century, where the word is commonplace in everyday language, it served as slang for 'an intensifier' as in the Millennium Edition of The Collins English Dictionary. He added: "Used in this context, Virgin Megastores refute claims that these adverts were designed to cause offence to anyone."

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