SMALL PRINT:Since when is domestic violence cool? The themes of pop music videos are very much a copycat game. Visual styles are mimicked across music videos as fashions emerge and change – but the latest trend is disturbing. Two high-profile music videos from two of music's biggest acts were released over the past week – Britney Spears' Criminaland Rihanna's We Found Love.Both depict scenes of domestic violence. It's beginning to feel like a theme that can't be ignored.

Two years ago, Lady Gaga's Paparazzivideo saw her confined to a wheelchair after being thrown over a balcony by her lover. Rihanna – who was beaten up by her former boyfriend Chris Brown in early 2009 – has been flirting with the theme of domestic violence in her videos for some time. Last year, her video with Eminem for Love the Way You Liedepicted an extremely violent relationship between actors Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan. In her video for Man Down, Rihanna is depicted as an assassin, shooting and killing the male lead, with an undertone of sexual assault.

Now in We Found Love, a video loaded with drug imagery and shot in Bangor, Rihanna again depicts a dysfunctional relationship. In Criminal, Spears is bullied, insulted, grabbed and slapped across the face by her male partner, whom she then kicks in the crotch.

In pop, domestic violence is having what trend watchers might call “a moment”. It gets attention and causes controversy, something heavily desired in a crowded market of pop stars. It’s time for someone – preferably the artists themselves – to shout “stop”.