Payday lenders are using TV advertising to groom children into thinking borrowing money is "fun" and "easy" MPs said yesterday.

The business, innovation and skills committee recommended banning payday-lending adverts on programmes aimed at children.

The committee heard evidence from consumer campaigners who warned that "cartoon puppets" used on payday lenders' adverts suggest that taking out a loan can be fun.

And consumer help website MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis had previously told the MPs that the next generation is in danger of being "groomed" for payday loans.

"From our own research, we know children ask their parents to get a payday loan to buy them toys. Whilst parents have the power to say no, it's evidence that kids see this dangerous type of niche borrowing as part of everyday life," he said.

Wonga, one of Britain's most high-profile payday lenders, is well known for its TV ads featuring a trio of elderly puppet characters named Betty, Joyce and Earl who explain the process of taking out a short-term cash loan to viewers.

The committee's report referred to recent research by Ofcom which found that 55 per cent of payday television ads last year were shown in the daytime schedule.

Committee chairman Adrian Bailey said: "It is worrying that our children are being exposed to such an extent to adverts that can present payday loans as a fun, easy and appropriate way to access finance."

He said the rapid expansion of the payday firms and a rocketing number of calls for help being made to charities by people drowning in debt are "not unrelated."

Russell Hamblin-Boone, chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association, said the body recognised concerns about the advertising of short-term loans on children's TV channels over a year ago "and, as a result, there have been no adverts by members on children's channels since then."

However the number of payday ads seen by children soared from three million in 2008 to 596 million last year, meaning that in 2012 each child typically saw 70 of these ads.

The estimated size of the payday loan sector has doubled over a five-year period to around £2.2 billion.