One of my favorite organizations that fights against fast food marketing to kids is looking for financial support. They sent the letter below...
Are you distressed when Batman, McDonalds, and Lego partner to sell kids on fast food and video games? When Nickelodeon features the Bratz in a made-for-TV movie? When Elmo and Barbie morph into a "Barbie loves Elmo" toy?
Are you appalled when marketers spend billions of dollars advertising toxic brands and products directly to children - and then lay all of the blame on parents for the rise of marketing-related problems like childhood obesity, youth violence, and precocious, irresponsible sexuality?
Why not do something about it? Support the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the only national organization devoted solely to countering the harmful effects of commercialization on children. With your help, we're making a difference. We rely on you because we will not compromise our commitment to children and families by accepting corporate funding.
We act on your marketing concerns. When a Boston father contacted us because Webkinz World, the leading social network site for young children, was accepting outside ads, we alerted the media and launched a letter-writing campaign. As a result, Webkinz now gives parents the option for kids to use an ad-free version of their site.
When a mom in Seminole County, Florida, alerted us to McDonald's report card advertising at her daughter's school, we made the ads a national embarrassment for the fast food giant. Our campaign for commercial-free report cards was featured on Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, and hundreds of newspapers around the country. As a result, McDonald's agreed to end the program.
We're reclaiming schools from corporate marketers. Schools around the country are are promoting reading and not consumerism with CCFC's Guide to Commercial-Free Book Fairs. With our help, legislators and educators have made South Carolina the first state to ban all marketing on school buses. Working with local activists and parents, we've successfully stopped BusRadio - a company that plans on "taking student targeted marketing to the next level" - in school districts from Connecticut to California.
We're countering the sexualization of children. After more than 5,000 emails from CCFC members, Scholastic, Inc. decided not to bring the highly sexualized Bratz brand back to school this year. When we caught BusRadio advertising 90210 - a television show chock full of teen sex and drinking - on its website for children as young as six, they began pulling the ads within hours. Our campaign to stop Children's Hospital in Columbus from selling naming rights to the infamous Abercrombie & Fitch for $10 million launched a national conversation about the ethics of public health institutions partnering with corporations that undermine children's wellbeing.
Help us stop the commercialization of childhood, advocate for policies that protect children from unscrupulous marketers, and take on the worst corporate offenders. Your tax-deductible contribution will allow us to continue to build a coalition of organizations and individuals who value children more than the bottom line.
Thanks to an anonymous donor, every contribution of $125 or more will be doubled from now until January 1st. Any amount you are able to give would be greatly appreciated. Please visit http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/donate/ to support CCFC today.
Susan Linn, EdD Alvin F. Poussaint, MD
Director, CCFC CCFC Steering Committee
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