If you’re a teen and your parents won’t give you a mobile when all your pals have one, you’re in big trouble these days.

Not only does this brand you a loser and a baby who can’t be trusted, but it effectively rules you out of dating, socialising and all the in-jokes that fly around the school. No kidding, it’s probably the worse thing you can do to a kid these days.

So I quite liked this little marketing wheeze from Cell Phones ‘n Plans (a US mobile retailer) who offer a choice of personalised email templates that kids can send to their parents. The gist of the email is that owning a mobile is a good thing (keeping in touch and available for emergencies), but more importantly that the kid can handle the responsibility and won’t rack up huge bills.

You can even download a model agreement on how the kid should use their mobile.

It’s a little cheesey in execution, but maybe it’s a cultural thing.

On the other hand, who am I to criticise cheesey when I grew up in a country where JJ Barrie’s “No Charge” actually got to Number One in the Charts? If you haven’t heard this before, don’t even think about it.